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THE OROIDES 

OR EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES, 
THE AMOURS, 

ART OF LOVE, REMEDY OF LOVE, 
AND MINOR WOEIS 



/ 
OVID 



LITERALLY TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH PROSE, 
WITH COPIOUS NOTES, 

BY HENRY T. RILEY, B.A., 

OF CLA.BE HALL, CAMBRIDGE. 

- 



LONDON: 
H. G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COYENT GARDEN. 

MDCCCLII. 



96-845552 



INTRODUCTION. 



The present is the third and concluding volume of the 
Classical Library translation of the works of Ovid, which, till 
now, have never been presented to the English reader in a 
complete form. 

The Text of Yalpy's Variorum Edition has generally been 
followed, but the Editions of Burmann and Gierig have been 
carefully consulted, and many of the improvements suggested 
therein adopted ; the reasons are, in all instances, stated in 
the Notes. 

The " Herdides " have been more than once translated into 
English verse, and they were published in prose by Davidson 
about the middle of the last century. Though the latter is pro- 
fessedly a literal Translation, it has no pretensions to be 
considered as such. It is, however, accompanied by many 
useful Notes, a portion of which, as embodying a careful 
analysis of the spirit of the writer, have been made available 
in the present Translation. 

The " Amores " have also been previously translated into 
English verse, but not into prose. 

The "Ars Amatoria" and the " Remedia Amoris" have 
never appeared in English prose, but a poetical version of 
them was made by Dry den, Congreve, and others. Their 
fluent lines, however, as might be presumed from the frequent 



IV INTEODTTCTION. 

allusion to powdered beaux, wigs, " the playhouse,' ' and other 
fashions of their day, are less a translation, than an adapta- 
tion of the work to the manners of the times. Their version, 
too, entirely omits a considerable portion of the original, 
and, in many instances, apparently for no other reason 
than because the passages so omitted are difficult of inter- 
pretation. 

In the present translation of the Amatory Poems, paraphrases 
have in a few instances been found necessary, where a literal 
rendering could not have been presented to the public without 
a violation of the rules of decorum. It has also been thought 
advisable to leave the more exceptionable passages in the ori- 
ginal Latin. The reader, if he is classical, will be able to 
translate them for himself ; if he is not, he may rest assured 
that he sustains no loss. At the same time, it must in justice 
be acknowledged that both the Amours and the Art of Love 
contain a vast amount of most interesting information upon 
the domestic life of the Romans, not to be found in any 
other of the Classics, with the exception, perhaps, of Petronius 
Arbiter. 

The fragment "De Medicamine Faciei," "on the Care of 
the Complexion," better known to the English reader as the 
" Art of Beauty," has been once previously translated into 
English verse, but not, it is believed, into prose. 

The "Nux," or "Walnut-tree," has never before been pub- 
lished in English ; nor has the '* Consolation to Livia A 
gusta," a poem of considerable beauty, and now genera' 
admitted to be the composition of Ovid. 

The " Three Responsive Epistles of Aulus Sabinus " we 
translated into verse by Wye Saltonstall, in the seventeen* 
century. His performance, however, is decidedly inferior t 



INTEODUCTIO^. Y 

his version of the " Tristia," which is really a work of some 
merit. No translation of these Epistles has ever appeared in 
prose. 

In conclusion, it is but just to acknowledge our obligations 
to Dr. Smith's valuable Dictionary of Greek and Roman 
Antiquities, Fuss's Roman Antiquities, Becker's Gallus, 
Keightley's Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy, and the 
very useful Latin Lexicon by Leverett, for a large amount of 
the varied information contained in the Notes. 



CONTENTS 



THE HER01DES; OR, EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. 



fiOB 



1 PENELOPE TO ULYSSES 1 

2 PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOON . ... . . 10 

3 BBISE1S TO ACHILLES 19 

4 PH^DEA TO HIPPOLYTUS 29 

5 (ENONE TO PAEIS 41 

6 HYPSIPYLE TO JASON ...... 50 

7 DIDO TO ^NEAS 62 

8 HEEMIONE TO OEESTES 74 

9 DE1ANIRA TO HEECULES . . ■ . ! . . 81 

10 ARIADNE TO THESEUS 94 

11 CANACE TO MACAEEUS 101 

12 MEDEA TO JASON , 111 

13 LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS 124 

14 HYPEEMNESTEA TO LYNCEUS 135 

15 SAPPHO TO PHAON 144 

16 PARIS TO HELEN 157 

17 HELEN TO PAEIS 178 

18 LEANDEE TO HERO 195 

19 HERO TO LEANDEE 208 

20 ACONT1US TO CYDIPPE 220 

21 CYDIPPE TO ACONTIUS 231 

THE RESPONSIVE EPISTLES OF AULUS SABINUS. 

1 ULYSSES TO PENELOPE 244 

2 DEMOPHOON TO PHYLLIS 251 

3 PARIS TO (ENONE ....*.. 256 



Mil CONTENTS 

THE AMORES ; OR, AMOURS, 

FAOB 

pook" i 261 

ii 302 

in 337 

ARS AMATORIA ; OR, THE ART OF LOVE. 

book i 379 

• ii 408 

in 434 

REMEDIA AMORIS; OR, THE REMEDY OF LOVE . . 464 

DE MEDICAMINE FACIEI ; OR, THE CARE OF THE COM-^ 

PLEXION 491 

NUX; OR, THE WALNUT-TREE 495 

THE CONSOLATION TO LIVIA AUGUSTA ... 502 

FRAGMENTS OF THE LOST WRITINGS OF OVID . . 522 

INDEX TO THE THREE VOLUMES OF OVID'S WORKS . 524 



THE HEROIDES, 



OE 



EPISTLES 1 OF THE HEROINES, 



EPISTLE I. 

PENELOPE TO ULYSSES. 

The Trojan war having been caused by the perfidy of Paris, who carried 
off Helen, the wife of his host, Menelaus, king of Sparta, the Greeks, 
having in vain applied for redress, determined to revenge themselves by 
force of arms. Unwilling to embark in the expedition, Ulysses counter- 
feited madness ; but on his stratagem being discovered by Palamedes, 
he accompanied the Grecian forces to Troy, where his valour and 
wisdom greatly contributed to the overthrow of that city. On return- 
ing, the Grecian ships, through the vengeance of Minerva, were over- 
taken by storms, whereby many were driven upon remote coasts, and 
the fugitives were involved in great distress. Among others, Ulysses 
wandered through various regions for above ten years, exposed to 
numerous dangers, and unable to regain his own country. Penelope, his 
wife, ignorant of the cause of his absence, but solicitous for his return, 
is supposed to address the present Epistle to her husband, in which 
she chides him for his long absence, and entreats him to return home to 
his wife and family, as, Troy being now overthrown, he can have no 
reason for his absence. 

Ulysses, thy Penelope 2 sends this to thee, thus delaying ; 

1 Epistles.'] — It may be here observed, that Scaliger attributes only 
fifteen of these Epistles to Ovid, and thinks that the following six — Paris 
to Helen, Helen to Paris, Leander to Hero, Hero to Leander, Acontius 
to Cydippe, andCydippe to Acontius — were written by Sabinus ; while the 
three which are usually ascribed to Sabinus, he attributes to some poet of 
the middle ages. In this opinion, however, he is not generally supported 
by the learned. 

2 Penelope.'] — Ver. 1. She was the wife of Ulysses. Her original 
name is said by some writers to have been Amyre, or Arnsea. According 
to them, she was afterwards called Penelope, either from ' Penelops,' the 
name of a bird supposed to be the widgeon, she having been fed by those 
birds when exposed by her parents, or, as some would have it, from a 
Greek word, signifying ' a web,' on account of the great skill she displayed 
in the art of spinning. 

B / 



2 THE EPISTLES OP THE HEROINES. [EP. I. 

but write me nothing in answer ; do thou come thyself. 
Troy, 3 so hateful to the Grecian fair, doubtless lies prostrate : 
hardly was Priam 4 and the whole of Troy of such great impor- 
tance. Oh ! how I wish that at the time when he was making 
for Lacedsemon 5 with his fleet, the adulterer 6 had been over- 
whelmed in the raging waves ! Then I had not lain cold 
in a deserted bed, nor forlorn 7 should I have complained that 
the days pass slowly on : the hanging web s would not then 

3 7Voy.] — Ver. 3. Troy was called ' Troja,' from its king Tros, the 
son of Ericthonius and Calirrhoe. It was before called Teucria, from 
Teucer, and Dardania, from Dardanus. 

4 Hardly was Priam.'] — Ver. 4. ' Vix Priamus tanti, totaque Troja 
fiirt.' These words are thus rendered in Davison's translation — ' Scarcely 
were Priam and all his kingdom worth such a mighty stir.' 

5 Lacedcemon.] — Ver. 5. Lacedaemon was a city of Peloponnesus, the 
capital of the dominions of Menelaiis, the husband of Helen. It received 
its name from Lacedsemon, the son of Jupiter and Taygete, the daughter 
of Atlas and Pleione. Another name of the same city was Sparta. 

6 The adulterer.'] — Ver. 6. She alludes to Paris, the son of Priam, 
who carried off Helen, the wife of Menelaiis, and thereby caused the Tro- 
jan war. Her resentment will not allow her to call him by his proper 
name of Alexander or Paris, but suggests one which sufficiently distin- 
guishes him, and at the same time reproaches him with his crimes. 

7 Nor forlorn.] — Ver. 8. She had now been left twenty years by him : 
he having been engaged ten years in the Trojan war, and another ten in 
his wanderings on his return homeward. 

8 The hanging! web.] — Ver. 10. The term ' pendula ' is used because 
the warp (which was called ' stamen,' from ' sto,' 'to stand,') stood erect 
in the loom, and did not lie horizontally, like those of the present day. 
Though weaving was a trade among the Greeks and Romans, every house 
of distinction, especially in the country, contained a loom, with the requi- 
site apparatus for working wool. This occupation was supposed to be 
especially pleasing to Minerva, who was regarded in this character as the 
guardian of female industry and decorum. The work was mostly carried 
on by the female slaves, under the supervision of the mistress of the house, 
who, with her daughters, occasionally took a part in the more tasteful 
portion of their labours. The Greeks and Romans supplied themselves 
from their own looms with the ordinary articles of clothing ; but the 
finer textile works of scarfs, shawls, carpets, and tapestry were mostly 
supplied them from the East. In the earlier ages of Greece and Rome, it 
was the duty of the matron, assisted by her daughters, to weave clothing 
for her husband and sons. Thus, Lucretia is depicted by Ovid, in the 
Second Book of the Fasti, as weaving a cloak for her husband. In the 
■' Ion' of Euripides, Creusa proves herself to be the mother of Ion, by des- 
cribing the pattern of a shawl which she had made, and in which she had 
wrapped her infant son. In the ' Iphigenia in Tauris' of Euripides, Iphigenia 






2P. I.] PENELOPE TO ULTSSES. 3 

have wearied my widowed hands, as I seek to beguile 9 the 
lingering night. 10 

When have I not been dreading dangers more grievous 
than the reality 1 Love is a thing replete with anxious fears. 
Against thee did I fancy that the furious Trojans were rush- 
ing on ; at the name of Hector I was always pale. If any 
one made mention of Antilochus, 11 conquered by Hector, Antilo - 
chus was the cause of my apprehensions ; or if, how the son of 
Mencetius 12 had fallen in assumed armour, I lamented that 
his stratagem 13 should fail of success. Tlepolemus had stained 

recognizes Orestes, and in the • Choephorse' of vEschylus, Electra also recog- 
nizes him, by the figured clothing which he wears, and which they had 
respectively long before woven for him. Shawls and fine garments were 
frequently woven as offerings to the temples of the Divinities. 

9 SeeJc to beguile.] — Ver. 9. In the Epistle of Hero to Leander there 
is a similar expression — ' deceptse pars noctis,' ' a portion of the beguiled 
night.' 

10 The lingering night.'] — Ver. 10. Being much importuned by her 
suitors, some of whom threatened to carry her off by force, Penelope 
begged a respite, until she should have finished a web which she was 
then weaving. To prolong the time, she was in the habit of undoing at 
night what she had completed in the day. Hence the proverb, 'Pene- 
lopes telum texere,' ' to do and undo.' 

11 Antilochus.] — Ver. 15. Politian suggests that ' Amphimachus ' 
should be read here instead of ' Antilochus/ inasmuch as not only Homer 
relates that Antilochus was slain by Memnon, but Quintus Calaber, Dictys 
the Cretan, and Pindar say the same. Some writers, however, think that 
the version given by Ovid is favoured by what Hyginus says in his 113th 
Fable ; though in the 112th he follows the common account, that Anti- 
lochus was killed by Memnon. There was another Antilochus, son of 
Hercules, who was killed by Paris. As Amphimachus was killed by 
iEneas, it has been suggested that the reading should be ' Archilochus ;' 
inasmuch as Dares the Phrygian says that a person of that name was 
slain by Hector. The Poet may, however, have designedly made the mis- 
take; inasmuch it was not unlikely that Penelope, a female living at a great 
distance, might be ignorant of the minute circumstances of the war, and, 
gathering her information from report, might mistake one person for 
another. Besides, Ovid uses the word ' victus,' ' conquered :' and, as 
Heinsius justly observes, it is one thing to be conquered, but another to 
be killed. 

12 Son of Mencetius.]— V er. 17. Patroclus was the son of Mencetius, 
and was the companion of Achilles. When this hero retired from the 
contest, on being deprived by Agamemnon of Briseis, Patroclus appeared in 
his armour on the field of battle, and was slain by Hector. 

13 That his stratagem.] — Ver. 18. Knowing that Ulysses was famed 
for his skill in stratagem, she expresses sorrow and apprehension that even 
stratagem mav fail of success. 

E 2 



4 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEBOIKES. [EP. I. 

the Lycian spear with his blood ; by the death of Tlepole- 
mus 14 were my cares renewed. In fine, whoever in the Gre- 
cian camp was slain, my affectionate breast was more cold 
than ice. 

But the righteous God 15 had a regard for my chaste pas- 
sion ; and Troy, my husband surviving, 16 has been reduced to 
ashes. The Argive chieftains 17 have returned; the altars 
are smoking ; the spoils of the barbarians 18 are offered to the 
Gods of our country. The damsels newly married 19 are pre- 
senting the gifts of gratitude for the safe return of their hus- 
bands ; they themselves are celebrating the destinies of Troy 
overcome by their own. 20 Both virtuous old men and timid 

14 Death of Tlepolemus.'] — Ver. 19. Astyoche was the daughter of 
Phyleus, king of Thesprotia. By Hercules she had Tlepolemus. Having 
killed his uncle, Lycimnius, in his father's house, he fled to Rhodes : 
whence he afterwards sailed with nine ships to aid the Grecian cause in 
the Trojan war. He was slain by Sarpedon, king of Lycia, who was in 
his turn slain by Patroclus. 

15 The righteous God.] — Ver. 23. By the Divinity here mentioned pro- 
bably Hymenseus, the God of marriage, is meant. 

16 My husband surviving. .] — Ver. 24. This she would learn from her 
son Telemachus, who was so informed by Menelaiis and Nestor. 

17 The Argive chieftains.'] — Ver. 25. Such as Agamemnon, Menelaiis, 
and Nestor. The Trojan war, however, was fatal to most of the Grecian 
chiefs. 

1S Of the barbarians.] — Ver. 26. Francius suggests ' Dardana ' in this 
line, in place of ' barbara.' But in the earlier ages of Greece the Phry- 
gians were especially considered to be (3apj3apoi. 

19 Damsels newly married.] — Ver. 27. The Poet here adopts the Greek 
word vvfjupr/, signifying ' a newly,' or ' recently married woman.' Hein- 
sius suggests, that the reading should be ' nuptse ;' the use of ' nymphse ' 
in this sense being so uncommon. 

20 By their own.] — Ver. 28. As each event that happened was sup- 
posed by the ancients to take place by the decree of fate, the poets, as in 
the present passage, sometimes use the word ' fate,' to signify the things 
accomplished by fate. By fate, was understood a succession of events, 
which must unavoidably take place, and which were to give rise the one 
to the other. There were several circumstances upon which the fate of 
Troy was said to depend. First, the life of Troilus, the son of Priam, who 
was slain by Achilles. Secondly, the preservation of the Palladium, or 
the image of Pallas, which was kept in the city ; this was carried off by 
Ulysses and Diomedes, who entered the city by night, and slew the guards 
of the place where it was deposited. Thirdly, the horses of Rhesus ; if 
they should not be captured before they ' had tasted of the pastures of 
Troy, and the waters of Xanthus,' as Virgil says : they were also carried 






EP. I.] PENELOPE TO ULYSSES. 5 

maidens are astonished ; the wife hangs intently on the lips of 
her husband as he tells the tale. Some, a table being placed, 
describe there the dreadful battles ; and they trace out the 
whole of Pergamus with a little wine. 21 This way flowed the 
Simois; 22 there is the Sigeean territory; 23 here stood the 
lofty palace of aged Priam ; here was the grandson of iEacus 
encamped, here Ulysses ; here mangled Hector frightened 
the steeds 24 in full career. 

For aged Nestor related it all to thy son, who was sent 25 to seek 
thee, and he again to me. He related, too, how that Rhesus 26 
and Dolon 27 were slain, and how the one was surprised in 

off by Ulysses and Dioraedes. And lastly, the sepulchre of Laomedon, 
in the Scsean gate, which was to remain untouched ; this was partly de- 
stroyed, when that gate was taken down by the Trojans, for the purpose of 
admitting the wooden horse. 

21 With a little wine.'} — Ver. 32. It was a common custom with the 
Greeks and Romans, after the 'ccena,' or chief meal, to set wine on the table, 
and to prolong the conversation to a late hour of the night. To describe 
positions and localities, they were in the habit of pouring a little wine on 
the table, and making the requisite delineation with the finger. Ovid 
mentions the same custom on other occasions ; and in the Epistle from 
Helen to Paris, 1. 88, he describes the lover as signifying his passion to his 
mistress by tracing the word ' amo,' ' I love,' on the table. 

22 The Simois.] — Ver. 33. — The Simois was a small river, near Troy, 
that flowed into the Scamander, and by its shallow course covered the 
neighbourhood with swamps and marshes. 

23 The Siffcean territory.} — Ver. 33. Sigagum was a promontory, near 
Troy. The ships of the Greeks were laid up in its vicinity. There, were 
also the tombs of Achilles, Patroclus, and Antilochus. 

24 Frightened the steeds.} — Ver. 36. This refers to the behaviour of 
Achilles to Hector, after he had slain him. He fastened his body to his 
chariot, and dragged it round the walls of Troy. 

25 Who was sent.] — Ver. 37. Penelope did not send Telemachus to 
seek his father Ulysses ; but being incited to do so by the advice of Minerva, 
under the form of Mentes, the son of Anchialus, the king of the Taphians, 
unknown to any person but his nurse, Telemachus left Ithaca with that ob- 
ject. He visited Nestor in Pylos, and Menelaiis at Sparta, and there having 
learned the fortunes of the Greeks, at the taking of Troy, he returned 
to his mother. 

26 Rhesus.] — Ver. 39. Rhesus was the son of Eioneus, and the king of 
Thrace. Coming to the assistance of Priam in the night, he was obliged 
to pitch his camp outside of the city. On hearing of this, Ulysses and Dio- 
medes surprised his guards, who, through the fatigue of their march, had 
fallen asleep, and slaying Rhesus, carried off his white steeds, and his 
chariot that was adorned with gold and silver. 

27 And Dolon.] — Ver. 39. Dolon was a Trojan by birth, the son of 



6 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. T. 

his sleep, the other by stratagem. Thou didst venture, 
thou, far, far too forgetful of thy fame, to enter the Thra- 
cian camp by a stratagem in the night ; and to slay so 
many 23 men together, when aided by but one. But no doubt 2 * 
thou wast extremely careful, and didst first bethink thy- 
self of me. My bosom continually throbbed with fear, until 
thou wast reported to have proceeded as a conqueror through 
the allied ranks with the Ismarian steeds. 30 But what avails 
me Ilion hurled down by thy arms ? and that level ground, 
which once was walls ; 31 if I remain just as I remained while 
Troy was flourishing, and if thou, my husband, art afar 
from me, to be lamented by me eternally ? To others Per- 
gamus is demolished, to me alone it survives ; Pergamus, 
which the victorious inhabitant is ploughing with the cap- 
tured steer ? 

Now 'tis a field of corn 82 where once Troy stood ; and the 
ground, destined to be plied with the sickle, is rich, fattened 
with Phrygian blood. The half buried bones of men are 
struck by the curving ploughs ; grass covers over the ruinous 
houses. Victorious, thou art absent, and it is not granted to 
me to know what is the cause of thy delaying, or in what 

Eumedes. He was sent by Hector as a spy into the Grecian camp ; and 
the horses of Achilles were promised to him, as the reward of his services. 
Diomedes and Ulysses being engaged in a similar pursuit, and meeting 
him, offered to spare his life if he would reveal the counsels and plans of 
the Trojans. To this he consented ; and, among other things, disclosed the 
recent arrival of Rhesus ; after which he was treacherously put to death. 
It does not seem very probable that Penelope would remind her husband 
of a transaction which was so much to the discredit of himself and his 
friend Diomedes. 

28 Slay so many.'] — Ver. 43. Penelope is here flattering her husband. 
Diomedes slew Rhesus and his twelve attendants. He also slew Dolon. 

29 But no doubt.] — Ver. 44. This is said ironically. 

30 Ismarian steeds."] — Ver. 46. Ismarus was a mountain of Thrace. 

31 Once was walls.] — Ver. 48. Scaliger is severe upon this line : as he 
says that a wall cannot become the ground. This is rather hypercritical, 
as the place where the walls stood is evidently meant by the Poet. 

32 A' field of corn.'] — Ver. 53. Lucan, in the Ninth Book of his Phar- 
salia, introduces Cato as visiting the site of Troy : ' and he seeks the 
famous vestiges of the Phcebean walls — the memorable name of burned 
Troy — now become barren woods, and the rotten trunks of trees.' — • The 
whole of Troy is covered with shrubs : even its ruins are gone.' 



EP. I.] PEKELOPE TO ULYSSES. 7 

corner of the world, in thy cruelty, thou art concealed. 33 
Whoever steers his stranger bark to these shores, departs 
after having been asked by me many a question about thee ; 
and to him is entrusted the paper inscribed with my fingers for 
him to deliver to thee, if he should only see thee anywhere. 

To Pylos, the Neleian lands of the aged Nestor, have I 
sent ; from Pylos an uncertain report was sent back. To 
Sparta, too, 34 have I sent : Sparta, also, was ignorant of the 
truth/ what regions thou dost inhabit, or where, thus lingering, 
thou art absent. More to my advantage would the walls of 
Phoebus 35 be standing even now. (Alas ! in my fickleness I 
am vexed at my own wishes.) I should then know where thou 
art fighting, and warfare alone should I dread ; and with 
those of many others™ would my complaints be joined. What 
to fear I know not ; still, bewildered, I dread every thing ; 
and a wide field lies open for my cares. Whatever dangers 
the sea presents, whatever the land, these I suspect to be the 
causes of a delay so prolonged. 

While in my folly I am imagining these things (such is the 
inconstancy of you men 31 ), thou mayst be captivated 33 by some 
foreign beauty. Perhaps, too, thou mayst be telling how 
homely thy wife is, who only will not allow the wool to be 

33 Thou art concealed.'] — Ver. 58. She implies a suspicion that her 
husband is detained hy a passion for some rival, which causes him to be 
concealed. 

3i To Sparta too.] — Ver. 65. On enquiring of Menelalis, Telemachus 
could gain no information relative to Ulysses. At his departure he was 
presented by Menelaiis with a goblet which Vulcan had made, and a robe 
which Helen had woven. 

35 Walls of Phoebus.] — 'Ver. 67. Phcebus and Neptune had aided 
Laomedon in building the walls of Troy. 

36 Of many others.] — Ver. 70. It is not an uncommon notion that 
companionship in grief is a solace. 

37 Of you men.] — Ver. 75. The word ' vestra ' is here appropriately 
used, as applying to husbands in general. Judging from what they do, 
she thinks that it is not improbable that Ulysses may be doing the same. 

33 Mayst be captivated.] — Ver. 76. Penelope here only intimates the 
suspicions that occasionally cross her mind. As she is entirely ignorant of 
what has happened to Ulysses since his departure from Troy, it is not to 
be supposed that she here alludes to Calypso and Circe ; though such an 
idea has been suggested by some Commentators. By Circe, Ulysses was 
the father of Telegonus, and by Calypso, of Auso, from whom Italy re- 
ceived the name of Ausonia. 



8 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEEOIFES. [EP. I. 

unspun. 39 May I prove mistaken, and may this charge vanish 
into unsubstantial air ; and mayst thou not, free to return, be 
desiring to be absent. My father, Icarius, 40 urges me to 
leave a widowed bed, and is always chiding thy protracted 
delay. Let him chide on ; thine I am, thy Penelope must I 
be called ; the wife of Ulysses will I ever be. Still, by my 
affection and my chaste entreaties is he softened, and himself 
restrains his own authority. Suitors from "Dulichium, 41 and 
Same, 42 and those whom the lofty Zacynthus 43 has given birth 
to, a wanton crew, 44 are besetting me ; and in thy palace do 
they rule, with no one to hinder them ; thy wealth, our very 
entrails, is being dissipated by them. 

Why should I mention 45 to thee Pisander and Polybus, 
and ugly Medon, 46 and the greedy hands of Eurymachus, and 
of Antinoiis, 47 and others, all of whom in thy absence, to thy 
disgrace, thou art supporting with the substance acquired by 

s9 Wool to be unspun.~}—Yev. 78. ' Quse tantum lanas non sinat esse 
rudes.' The following is the vague translation of this line given by Davison 
— ' who minds only the spindle and the distaff.' 

40 My father Icarius.'] — Ver. 81. Penelope was the daughter of Ica- 
rius and Polycaste. Leucadius and Alyzes were her brothers. Her father, 
concluding from the long absence of Ulysses that he would not return, 
importuned her to resign all thoughts of him, and to marry Eurymachus, 
whom he favoured before the other suitors. 

41 Dulichium.'] — Ver. 87. Dulichium was one of the cluster of islands 
called the Echinades, on the western side of the Peloponnesus. It formed 
part of the realms of Ulysses. 

42 Same.] — Ver. 87. Samos was the name of several islands. The 
one here mentioned was also called Samos, and had a city of that 
name. It formed part of the dominions of Ulysses ; its present name is 
Cephalenia. 

43 Zacynthus.] — Ver. 87. This island lay to the south of Same, and 
was part of the realms of Ulysses. 

44 A wanton crew,] — Ver. 88; The word 'turba,' 'multitude,' or 
' rout,' is by some thought to apply rather to the riotous demeanour of 
the suitors of Penelope, than their number. But surely no word but 
' turba ' could apply to a body, of whom fifty -two were from Duhchium, 
twenty-four from Same. 

43 Why should I mention.] — Ver. 91. She here names a few of her 
suitors, to move his indignation and prompt his return. Pisander was 
the son of Polyctor. Medon followed the occupation of a herald. 

46 Ugly Medon.] — Ver. 91. It is hard to say why the epithet ' dirum' 
is here given especially to Medon, whom Ulysses spared for his compara- 
tive inoffensiveness. It is most probable that in this place it means no- 
thing more than ' ugly,' or ' disagreable.' 

47 And of Antinous.] — Ver. 92. Eurymachus and Antinoiis were the 
chief in rank of the suitors. 



EP. I.] PENELOPE TO ULYSSES. 9 

thy blood. Needy Irus, 48 and Melanthius, 49 who drives thy flocks 
to pasture, are added to thy evils, as the crowning disgrace. 
We are, in number, three unprotected persons ; thy wife 
without strength, Laertes 50 an aged man, and Telemachus a 
boy. By treachery 51 has he been nearly torn from me of late ; 
while, against the will of all, he was preparing to go to Pylos. 
May the Gods ordain, I pray, that, while the destinies proceed 
in the usual order, 52 he may close my eyes, — he may close 
thine. Both the keeper of thy oxen 53 and thy aged nurse do the 
same ; and as a third, the guardian of the unclean stye. But 
neither is 54 Laertes, as being one incapable of bearing arms, 
able to hold his sway in the midst of enemies. To Telema- 

43 Needy Irus.'] — Ver. 95. Irus was an indigent wretch of Ithaca, of 
vast size, but of no strength or courage. Ulysses slew him with a blow of 
his fist. 

49 Melanthius.] — Ver. 95. Melanthius was the goat-herd of Ulysses, 
who joined the suitors of Penelope in consuming the flocks of his master. 

50 And Laertes.'] — Ver. 98. Laertes is generally called the father of 
Ulysses. Sometimes, indeed, he is reproachfully styled the son of Sisyphus ; 
for his mother, Anticlea, after being betrothed to Laertes, was carried off 
by the robber Sisyphus, and by him she was said to have become the 
mother of Ulysses. Ajax, in the contention for the armour of Achilles, 
reproaches him with this. See the 13th Book of the Metamorphoses. 

51 By treachery.] — Ver. 99. The suitors, as we learn from Homer, tried 
to intercept Telemachus on his road to the court of Nestor ; but by the 
interposition of Minerva, he was saved. 

52 In the usual order.] — Ver. 101. That is, the more aged being the 
first to die. Tt was the office of the nearest relatives to close the eyes of 
the dying. Varro, however, tells us that by the Maevian law it was for- 
bidden that sons should close the eyes of their parents when dying. 

53 Of thy oxen.] — Ver. 103. She alludes to Philetius the neat-herd, 
Eumseus the swine-herd, and Euryclea, the daughter of Pisenor, the nurse 
of Ulysses. 

54 But neither is.] — Ver. 104. The following are the remarks of 
Daniel Heinsius on the present passage : — " Some critics have supposed 
that many passages of this Epistle have been carelessly transposed ; and 
of this I myself am convinced. About the present passage I have no 
doubt ; for what relation do the present lines bear to the former ones ? 
Penelope, unless I am mistaken, does not mean to say that she wishes 
the neatherd, or the nurse of Ulysses, to close her own eyes and those of 
her husband. I am of opinion then that the whole passage ought to be 
readjusted, and that it should stand thus : — 

" Tres sumus imbelles numero : sine viribus uxor 
Laertesque senex, Telemachusque puer. 
Sed neque Laertes, ut qui sit inutilis armis 
Hostibus in medhs regna tenere potest. 



10 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEBOIKES. [EP. II. 

chus (if he only lives) a more vigorous age will be given ; 
now ought it to be defended by the aid of his father. I have 
no strength to drive the enemy from thy abode ; come, 
speedily, then, the refuge and sanctuary of thy family. 

Thou hast, and long mayst thou have, a son, who, in his 
tender years, ought to have been trained to the virtues of his 
father. Think of Laertes ; that thou mayst still close his 
eyes, he still drags on the closing hours of his existence. I, no 
doubt, 55 who was but a girl when thou didst depart, shall 
seem to have become an old woman, though thou shouldst 
return at once. 

EPISTLE II. 
PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOON. 

Demophoont, the son of Phaedra and Theseus, king of Athens, on his 
return from the Trojan war, being overtaken by a tempest, was 
obliged to make for the coast of Thrace, which was at that time go- 
verned by Phyllis, the daughter of Lycurgus and Crustumena. From 
her he met with a most hospitable reception, and at length was admitted 
to share her bed. Hearing of the death of Mnestheus, who, after the 
expulsion of Theseus, had taken possession of the government of 
Athens, and urged by a desire of recovering his kingdom, he resolved 

Nee mihi sunt vires inimicos pellere tectis, 

Tu potius venias, portus et ara tuis. 
Telemacho veniet (vivat modo) fortior setas, 

Nunc erat auxihis ilia tueuda patris. 
Hoc faciunt, custosque boum, longaevaque nutrix : 
Tertius immundae cura fidelis harae. 
" We are in number three unprotected persons, thy wife without 
strength, Laertes an aged man, and Telemachus, a boy. But neither 
is Laertes, as being one incapable of bearing amis, able to hold his sway 
in the midst of enemies. I have no strength to drive the enemy from 
thy abode ; come speedily then, the refuge and sanctuaiy of thy family. 
To Telemachus (if he only lives) a more vigorous age will be given ; now 
ought it to be defended by the aid of his father. Both the keeper of 
thy oxen and thy aged nurse do the same, and as a third, the guardian of 
the unclean stye." 

55 /, no doubt.'] — Ver. 115. She closes by endeavouring to move his 
compassion in her own behalf. He had married her in her youth, and had 
left her soon after her marriage — she has languished through the flower of 
her life in his absence ; now age is growing upon her, and her beauty is 
beginning to fade, so that she must naturally appear at the time of his 
return, different from what she was at his departure. She entreats him 
to hasten, before all the remains of what had formerly recommended her, 
are lost. 



EP. II.] PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOOX. 11 

to sail for Athens, promising Phyllis that he would return in a month. 
Having reached that city he entirely forgot his promise. Phyllis, 
therefore, after four months had expired, wrote to him the above Epis- 
tle, entreating him to remember her kindness, and not to break his 
promise, and threatening that she would inflict on herself a violent 
death, if he should fail to return. 

Demophoo^, 56 I thy Rhodopeian 57 entertainer, Phyllis, am 
complaining that thou art absent beyond the prescribed time. 
Thy anchor was promised to our shores when the horns of 
the moon should once have closed 53 in her full orb. Four 
times has the moon waned ; four times by her full orb has 
she been renewed, and yet the Sithonian waves 59 bear not the 
Actasan ships. 60 If thou dost reckon the time, which we who 
are in love so carefully reckon, not before its day does my com- 
plaint come ; my hopes, too, 61 have been slow to depart; with 

56 Demopho6n.~] — Ver. 1. The story of Demophoon and Phyllis is 
thus related by Hyginus, ch. 59. " Demophoon, the son of Theseus, is 
said to have been entertained by Phyllis in Thrace, and to have been be- 
loved by her. Wishing to revisit his native country, he promised to 
return to her on a certain day. Not arriving on the day named, Phyllis 
is said on that day to have run down to the shore nine times, which 
thence received the name of the Enneados, or ' nine journies.' Phyllis 
died of sorrow on losing Demophoon. Her parents having erected a tomb 
in her honour, trees sprang up around it ; which at a certain time of the 
year lament Phyllis, their leaves withering and falling off. From her name 
the leaves of trees came to be called by the Greeks (pv\\a (phylla)." 

67 Rhodopeian.] — Ver. 1. Phyllis is called ' Rhodopeia,' from Rho- 
dope, a mountain of Thrace, her native country. Some authors state that 
Rhodope, a queen of Thrace, for her contempt of the Gods, was changed 
into that mountain, and that thence it had its name. Others say that 
she was only buried upon it. 

5 > Once have closed. — Ver. 3. Semel, 'once,' and not ' quater,' 'four 
times,' seems to be the proper reading ; as the story is that Demophoon 
had promised to return in a month. 

59 Sithonian waves."] — Ver. 6. Namely, the waves that beat the 
Thracian coast. We learn from Aulus Gellius that Sithon was an ancient 
name of Thrace. 

w Actcean ships.] — Ver. 6. ' Actseas,' ' Attic,' or ' Athenian,' from the 
Greek word clkt >), ' the shore ;' because Attica was a region on the sea- 
shore. 

61 My hopes, too.] — Ver. 9- The sentiment in this passage is ex- 
tremely natural : Ovid well understood many of the phases of human na- 
ture. How unwilling are we to believe the contrary of what we wish ; 
so much so, that the wish is the father to the thought. How ready are 
we to find a thousand excuses, or even to be guilty of possible untruths, 
in favour of those whom we are desirous to find innocent. 



12 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. IT. 

hesitation do we believe that, which believed, distresses us ; 
now both reluctant and in love, it does distress me. 

Oft have I deceived 62 myself for thee ; often have I thought 
that the stormy South winds would bring back thy white 
sails. Theseus have I cursed, because he was unwilling to 
let thee go ; and yet, perhaps, he did not withhold thy re- 
turn. Sometimes have I dreaded lest, while thou wast making 
towards the shallows of Hebrus, 63 thy wrecked bark might be 
swallowed up by the foaming waves : oft as a suppliant, per- 
fidious man, have I entreated the Gods in thy behalf, 
worshipping them with my prayers, at the altars that barn 
the frankincense. Often, as I saw the winds favouring both 
the seas and skies, have I said to myself, " If he is alive, 
he will come." In fine, my trusting affection has imagined 
whatever causes delay to those in haste ; and in making 
excuses I have been ingenious. 

But, lingering on, thou art absent ; neither do the Deities 
by which thou didst swear, bring thee back ; and moved by 
love for me, thou dost not return. Demophoon, both thy 
words 64 and thy sails hast thou given to the winds ; I com- 
plain that thy sails fail in thy return, thy word fails in 
truthfulness. Tell me what I have done, except that I loved 
thee not with prudence. By my fault I should have en- 
deared myself to thee. My only fault, perfidious man, is, 
that I received thee ; but that fault has the force of, and is 
equal to, merit. Where now are thy vows, where thy honour, 
and thy right hand joined to my right hand ? and where the 
God 65 that so oft was on thy perjured lips 1 Where, noiv, is 
Hymenseus, who was promised for our united years, who was 
the pledge and the security of my future marriage? 

62 Oft have I deceived.] — Ver. 11. She has even persuaded herself of 
the reality of the excuses which she herself has invented to account for 
his not having returned. 

63 Hebrus. .] — Ver. 15. The Hebrus was a river of Thrace, which 
separated the territories of the Peantes and the Dolonci. It also touched 
upon the Ciconian territory. 

64 Both thy words.'] — Ver. 25 Some think that this expresses resent- 
ment and indignation on the part of Phyllis : but if we examine the 
passage, we shall find that it implies the greatest love and tenderness. It 
begins a mournful expostulation with him for having disappointed her, 
and for having caused so much trouble to one so constant to himself, and 
whose only error was an unbounded affection. 

65 Wiere the God.] — Ver. 32„ Cupid is the Divinity here alluded to. 



EP. II. J PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOON. 13 

By the sea didst thou swear, which is agitated throughout by 
winds and by waves, over which so oft thou hadst gone, so oft 
thou wast destined to go ; by thy grandsire 66 also didst thou 
swear to me (if he, too, is not falsely called so), who soothes the 
sea when aroused by the winds ; by Venus, and the weapons, 
too successf ul, alas ! against myself, the bow the one weapon, 67 
the torch the other ; and by Juno, 68 who, genial Deity, pre- 
sides over the nuptial couch ; and by the mystic rites of the 
Goddess that bears the torch. 69 If each of the Divinities out of 
so many thus wronged should take vengeance for their injured 
Godheads, thou, but one, wouldst not be sufficient for the 
retribution. 

But in my madness I even refitted thy damaged ships, 
that more safely might speed the bark in which I was de- 
serted. Oars, too, have I supplied, in order that, about to 
abandon me, thou mightst fly. Wounds, alas ! am I enduring, 
inflicted by my own weapons ! I confided in the soothing 
words, 70 of which thou hast such a command ; in thy kindred 
and in thy titles did I confide ; I confided in thy tears ; are 

65 Thy grandsire.'] — Ver. 38. Some Commentators think that iEgeus 
is here referred to, who was changed into a Divinity of the sea on pre- 
cipitating himself into it. He was the father of Theseus, and the grand- 
father of Demophoon. Others would take ' avus' to mean ' great' grand- 
father, and to allude to Neptune, the father of iEgeus. But, according 
to some accounts, Neptune was the father of Theseus, and the grand- 
father of Demophoon. Isocrates, in his Encomium of Helen, makes 
mention of this belief. Euripides, too, in his ' Hippolytus,' speaks of 
Neptune as the father of Theseus. 

67 The one weapon.'] — Ver. 40. The bow and arrows and the lighted 
torch were represented by the poets and painters as the especial weapons 
of Cupid. They are occasionally ascribed to Venus herself. 

6S By Juno.] — Ver. 41. This Goddess, in the character of Juno Pro- 
nuba, presided over the marriage bed. 

69 That bears the torch.] — Ver. 42. This was the Eleusinian Ceres, 
whose sacred rites were performed in the night with torches, in remem- 
brance of her having gone in search of her daughter Proserpine, when 
ravished by Pluto, in the night time, having first lighted her pine torch 
at Mount TEtna. Her priests thence obtained the name of ' Daduchi,' or 
' torch-bearers.' 

70 The soothing words. ] — Ver. 49. It being a solace to think that our 
misfortunes are not brought upon us by any fault of our own, Phyllis 
here endeavours to justify herself, and to throw the whole blame on the 
perfidious conduct of Demophoon. Her own innocence and simplicity 
plead for her. She gave entire credit to his oaths and protestations, his 
fine speeches and pretended tears. Being herself a stranger to deceit, 
she apprehended no such conduct in him. 



14 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. II. 

these, too, taught to dissemble ? Have these, too, their arti- 
fices, and do they flow just as they are bid 1 In the Gods, 
too, did I put ray trust ; where now are these many pledges 
given to me ? By means of them in any way could I have 
been deceived. Yet I am not vexed that in my harbour and 
kingdom I received thee ; but that ought to have been the 
limit of my kindness. 

I am ashamed that I disgracefully added the social couch 
to hospitality, and that I laid my side by thine. I could wish 
that the night that was before that one had been my last, while 
yet I could have died the chaste Phyllis. I hoped the best, 
because I thought that I deserved the best ; whatever hopes 
arise from deserts, justly arise. It is no mighty glory to de- 
ceive a trusting mind ; my innocence was deserving of kind- 
ness. Both a woman and in love, by thy words have I been 
deceived. May the Gods grant that to be the amount of thy 
glories ; among the descendants, too, of iEgeus, mayst thou be 
erected 71 in the midst of the city ; may thy father, graced 
with inscriptions, stand before thee. When Scyron 7;i shall 
be read of, and the fierce Procrustes, 73 and Sinis, 74 and the 
mingled shape 75 of the bull and of the man ; Thebes, too, 76 

71 Mayst thou be erected.] — Ver. 67. That is, ' may a statue of you be 
erected, together with those of your father Theseus and your brothers, the 
descendants of iEgeus, in the midst of Athens, your native city.' 

72 Scyron.] — Ver. 69. He was the son of Canethus and Henioche, the 
daughter of Pittheus. He haunted a spot in the territory of Megara, 
where he was famous for his robberies and cruelty. He was in the habit 
of plundering travellers, and then throwing them headlong from the rocks 
into the sea. Theseus, on his way to Athens, attacked and slew him. 

73 Procrustes.'] — Ver. 69. He inhabited a spot in Attica, called Cory- 
dalus, and it was his custom to measure such travellers as fell into his 
hands by his bed. If too long, he cut them shorter ; but if too short, he 
stretched them till they were of an equal length with it. We learn from 
Diodorus Siculus, that he was slain by Theseus. 

74 Sinis.] — Ver. 70. Sinis was a cruel robber, who lived on the Isthmus 
of Corinth. With his mighty strength he bent together the branches of 
trees, and having fastened travellers to them, unfastened the boughs; which, 
on regaining their former positions, tore the unhappy victims to pieces. 

75 Mingled shape.] — Ver. 70. She alludes to the Minotaur, a mon- 
ster whose form was partly that of a man, and partly of a bull ; it was 
begotten upon Pasiphae by a bull. It was kept in the Cretan labyrinth, 
and was slain by Theseus. 

76 Thebes too.] — Ver. 71. Thebes in Boeotia was founded by Cadmus. 
Theseus took the city, and slew its king Creon, because he had denied the 
rites of sepulture to the Argives. 



EP. II.] PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOO^. 15 

subdued in war, and the double-limbed Centaurs 11 dispersed ; 
and the dusky palace 78 of the black God stormed ; next to 
him, may thy statue be marked with this inscription :' 9 ' This 
is he whose loving entertainer was betrayed by guile.' 

Out of so great a multitude of exploits, and the deeds of 
thy parent, the Cretan dame deserted was pleasing 80 to thy 
feelings. That which alone calls for an excuse, 81 in him alone 
dost thou admire ; perfidious man, thou dost make thyself the 
heir to thy father's deceit. She enjoys (I envy her not) a 
better husband : 8 ' 2 and she is seated aloft with the harnessed 
tigers. 83 But the Thracian youths whom I scorned avoid an 
alliance with me, because I am said to have preferred a 
foreigner to my own countrymen. And some say, " Now let 
her repair to learned Athens : there shall be another person 
to reign over warlike Thrace. The result proves 84 all actions." 

71 Double-limbed Centaurs.] — Ver. 71. The Centaurs were the sons of 
Ixion and a cloud, which was substituted to meet Ixion's violence in 
place of Juno. At the marriage of Pirithoiis, the friend of Theseus, they 
offered violence to Hippodamia, the bride, on which they were attacked by 
Theseus, Peleus, Nestor, and the Lapithae, who slew some and put the 
rest of them to flight. They were fabled to resemble a human being in 
the upper part of the body, and a horse in the lower. 

78 The dusky palace.'] — Ver. 72. Theseus broke into the realms of 
Pluto, the king of the Infernal regions, that he might carry off Proserpine, 
whom his friend Pirithoiis desired for a wife. Pirithoiis was slain by 
Cerberus, while Theseus was taken prisoner and detained until he was set 
at liberty by Hercules. 

79 With this inscription.] — Ver. 73. That the contrast between your 
exploits and those of your father may be put in the strongest light. 

80 Was pleasing.] — Ver. 76. She says that of all the deeds of his 
father, his desertion of the Cretan princess Ariadne, was the only one 
that had made an impression on his mind. 

81 Calls for an excuse.'] — Ver. 77. The meaning is, 'You admire that 
only in your father which he seeks to excuse ; and in which he acknow- 
ledges himself to have been culpable.' 

82 A letter husband.] — Ver. 79. Having been deserted by Theseus, 
in the island of Naxos, Ariadne became the favourite of Bacchus, who 
married her, and gave her a diadem, which was afterwards placed by 
him among the Constellations. According to some accounts, Ariadne her- 
self was placed there. See the Third Book of the Fasti. 

33 Harnessed tigers.] — Ver. 80. Bacchus, on his return from India, was 
represented as drawn by harnessed tigers. Meeting with Ariadne at that 
period, he placed her in his chariot. 

84 The residt proves.] — Ver. 85. These words are by some attributed 
to the Thracians, who are censuring Phyllis, while others attribute 



16 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEKOItfES. [EP. II. 

I trust that he may fail of success, whoever thinks that actions 
are to be judged of by the result ; for if the seas were now 
foaming with thy oars, I should be now said to have studied 
my own interest, and that of my people. But neither have I 
consulted them ; nor will my palace receive thee ; nor wilt 
thou bathe thy wearied limbs in the Bistonian waters. 85 

That form of thine, as thou didst depart, is impressed upon 
my eyes, at the time when thy fleet, about to sail, occupied 
my harbour. Thou didst venture to embrace me, and, throw- 
ing thyself on my loving neck, to imprint the lengthened 
kisses, 86 and with thy tears to mingle my own tears, and to 
complain that the breeze was favourable for thy sails, and at 
thy departure to say, with thy last words, " Phyllis, take care 
and expect thy Demophoon." Should I expect thee, who didst 
depart, never again to see me ? Should I expect the sails that 
are denied to my seas ? And yet I do expect thee ; though 
late, return to her who loves thee : that thy promise may have 
failed in the time only for thy return. 

What, in my wretchedness, am I praying for ? 87 Already 
perhaps some other wife detains thee, and a love that is in- 
auspicious for me. And soon as I was lost to thy sight, of 
no Phyllis, I suppose, thou didst know ! Ah me ! shouldst 

them to Phyllis herself. The former seems to be the most probable 
supposition ; on which the rejoinder of Phyllis commences, who wishes 
bad luck to all who judge of actions only according to the result. 

85 Bistonian waters.'] — Ver. 90. According to Antoninus Liberalis, 
Bistonis was the name of a lake in Thrace. 

85 The lengthened kisses.] — Ver. 94. The literal translation of this line 
is — ' To join the impressed kisses with long delays/ She here puts him 
in mind of his insinuating manner when he parted with her, and the 
hopes he had raised of speedily revisiting her. She tells him that he 
hung upon her neck and nearly smothered her with embraces, and blamed 
the winds for being so favourable for his voyage, and charged her to ex- 
pect his immediate return. 

87 Am I praying for.] — Ver. 103. Penelope, in the preceding letter, 
thinking that inconstancy is the common failing of husbands, suspects 
a similar reason for her husband's absence. Plutarch relates that Demo- 
phoon had an intrigue with a damsel named Laodice, by whom he 
had a son whose name was Munychus : others say that the name of his 
mistress was Calliope. This intrigue, however, took place before Demo- 
phoon arrived in Thrace, and had become known to Phyllis. The same 
story is told at length by Parthenius in his Erotica, except that for 
Demophoon he substitutes Acamas, who was the brother of Demophoon. 



EP. II.] PHYLLIS TO DEMOPHOOE". 17 

thou enquire who I, Phyllis, am, and whence I come. I, who, 
Demophoon, gave thee, when driven after prolonged wander- 
ings, the Thracian harbours and hospitality ; whose wealth 
my own riches increased ; to whom in want, in my opu- 
lence, I gave many a present, and was likely to give many 
more. I, who subjected to thee the extended realms of 
Lycurgus, 88 hardly well enough adapted to be ruled in the 
name of a female : where the ice-clad Rhodope extends to the 
shady Hsemus, 89 and the sacred Hebrus 90 rolls forth his waters 
onward speeding : whose virginity was violated by thee with 
unhappy omens, and whose girdle was unfastened by thy 
treacherous hand. 91 

Over that match did presiding Tisiphone 92 howl, and the soli- 
tary bird uttered its mournful notes. Alecto was there, her 
hair wreathed with short serpents ; and the light was waved 
with the sepulchral torch. 98 Still, in my sorrow, do I pace the 
rocks and the shores overgrown with shrubs, and the spots, 
where the wide seas extend before my view. Whether by day 

83 Realms of Lycurgus. .] — Ver. 111. He was the son of Boreas or 
of Dyas, and was king of Thrace. Despising the rites of Bacchus, he 
was afflicted with madness, and hewed off his own legs with a hatchet. 
The mention of him here is thought to be very appropriate, as, while he 
ruled in Thrace, he not only denied hospitality to strangers, hut was in 
the habit of putting them to death. 

89 Shady Hcemus.] — Ver. 113. She describes the vast extent of her 
kingdom. ' It includes,' she says, ' Mount Rhodope, and reaches as far as 
Haemus and the river Hebrus.' 

90 Sacred Hebrus.] — Ver. 114. The Hebrus is called ' sacer,' either 
because all rivers were frequented by river Gods and water Nymphs, or 
because the inspired Orpheus lived on its banks, and, when he was torn 
to pieces, his head was thrown into its waves ; or else, because the orgies 
of Bacchus were celebrated in its vicinity. 

91 Thy treacherous hand.'] — Ver. 116. Burmann suggests that there 
should be a note of interrogation at the end of this line, to show the in- 
dignation of Phyllis at the conduct of the man for whom she has made 
such sacrifices. 

92 Tisiphone.] — Ver. 117. Tisiphone, being ' Pronuba,' would be in- 
auspiciously supplying the place of Juno • Pronuba.' The ' pronubae' 
were also the women who directed the marriage ceremony on the part of 
the bride, ' the bridewomen.' 

93 The sepulchral torch.] — Ver. 120. According to Plutarch, the nuptial 
torches were lighted in honour of the Gods above, while the funereal 
torches were lighted in honour of the infernal Deities. The funereal torches 
were also used for the purpose of setting fire to the funeral pile. 

C 



18 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. II. 

the earth is refreshed, or whether the chilly stars are shining, 
I am looking forth what winds impel the waves. And what- 
ever sails I see coming afar, at once I conclude that the Deities 
are propitious 94 to me. Towards the shore I run, the waves 
hardly restraining me, where the inconstant billows extend 
the margin of their waters. The nearer they approach, less and 
less firmly do I stand : I faint away and I fall, to be supported 
by my maids. 

There is a bay, 95 bending slightly like a drawn bow ; the 
promontories at its extremities are rugged with lofty rocks ; 
hence have I intended to hurl my body into the waves below : 
and since thou dost persist in deceiving me, so it will be. The 
friendly billows may bear me, thus thrown down, to thy shores, 
and unburied I may meet thy eyes. Though thou shouldst sur- 
pass iron and adamant, and thy own self in hardness, thou wilt 
say, " Phyllis, not thus ought I to have been followed by thee." 
Often have I a thirst for poisons ; often does it please me, 
pierced by the sword to die by a bloody death. My neck, 
too, because it has allowed itself to be embraced by perfidious 
arms, do I wish to be encircled in a halter. It is my determi- 
nation to atone for my injured honour by a premature death : 
but little delay shall there be for the choice of that death. 96 

On my tomb 97 thou wilt be described as the hated cause of 

94 Deities are propitious. .] — Ver. 126. She may possibly allude to the 
figures of the Divinities which were painted on the sterns of vessels. 

95 There is a bay.~\ — Ver. 131. Phyllis is at length reduced to despair, 
and declares her resolution of putting an end to her life, if he shall con- 
tinue to slight her passion. This passage is remarkable for its beauty. 
She revolves in her mind several modes of death, and at last deter- 
mines to throw herself into the sea. Her love extends beyond the termi- 
nation of her existence, and she soothes her mind with the reflection, that 
when dead, some favourable wind may carry her body to the Athenian 
shore, and that if there her body shall chance to meet his eyes, it will, 
even in despite of himself, excite his compassion. 

96 Choice of that death.] — Ver. 144. "According to some writers, she 
hung herself to an almond tree, which at once withered away, but after- 
wards became green on the approach of Demophoon; others say she 
died of grief, and was then changed into an almond tree. 

97 On my tomb.] — Ver. 145. According to Coluthus, in his Poem on 
the Rape of Helen, when Paris was going to Greece to carry off Helen, 
the sepulchre of Phyllis was visible on Pangseum, a promontory of Thrace. 
This, however, could not be the case if, as other writers say, Demophoon 
was entertained by Phyllis on his return from the Trojan war. 



EP. III.] BEISElS TO ACHILLES. 19 

my destruction ; either by this or a like inscription wilt thou 
be known : ' Demophoon, the guest, 98 caused the destruction 
of his loving Phyllis : he supplied the cause for her death, 
she the hand.' 



EPISTLE III. 
BRISEIS TO ACHILLES. 

After the Greeks had arrived in Phrygia, they attacked all the cities 
in the vicinity of Troy, particularly those opposite to the isle of Lesbos. 
Among the rest, Achilles, the son of Peleus, king of Thrace, and of 
Thetis, assaulted the territories of Thebes and Lyrnesus, and having 
taken Chyrnesium, he carried off two beautiful damsels, one of whom 
was Astynome, the daughter of Chryses, the priest of Apollo Smin- 
theus, the other, Hippodamia, the daughter of Brises, who received 
the respective surnames of Chryseis and Briseis from their parents. 
Chryseis was given by Achilles to Agamemnon, while Briseis was re- 
served for himself. Agamemnon being obliged, in compliance with the 
will of the Gods, to restore Chryseis to her father, wrongfully deprived 
Achilles of the possession of Briseis. Enraged at this insult, Achilles 
withdrew his forces, and refused to assist the allies against the 
Trojans. The Greeks being several times worsted by the Trojans, 
Agamemnon sent deputies to Achilles to appease him, with offers to re- 
turn Briseis, and to give him considerable presents besides ; all which he 
obstinately refused. On this, Briseis is supposed to write to him the fol- 
lowing Epistle, in which she censures the violence of his resentment, 
and entreats him to accept the offer of Agamemnon and to take up 
arms against the Trojans. 

The letter which thou readest, not correctly written in Greek 
by a barbarian hand," comes from the captive Briseis. What- 
ever blots thou shalt observe, my tears have made them : but 
still even those tears have the meaning of words. If I am 
allowed to complain a little of thee, my master and my hus- 
band : of my master and my husband a little will I complain. 
No fault is it of thine that so readily was I delivered to 

96 Demophoon, the guest.] — Ver. 147. She seems to think the conduct 
of Demophoon more particularly base, from the circumstance that h« 
in so daring a manner violated the laws of hospitality, and by his trea- 
chery occasioned the death of her who was at once his entertainer and his 
mistress. She imagines thereupon that this will adhere to his memo- 
an eternal reproach, which no behaviour on his part will be able to efface. 

99 A barbarian hand.'] — Ver. 2. As Hippodamia was a native of Ci- 
licia, and probably knew nothing of the Greek language before her cap- 
tivity, her knowledge of it may naturally be supposed. to have bee;; 
imperfect, q 2 



20 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEKOIKES. [EP. III. 

the king when he demanded me ; although even that was thy 
fault 1 in some degree. For, soon as Eurybates and Talthy- 
bius 2 summoned me, to Eurybates and Taithybius was I sur- 
rendered as a companion. Each, as he cast his eyes upon 
the features of the other, inquired in silence, 3 where was our 
affection. I might have been detained : delay would have 
been acceptable for my grief. Ah me ! when departing, no 
kisses did I give thee. 

But, without ceasing did I shed tears and tear my locks ; 
in my misery I seemed a second time to become a captive. 
Often did I wish, my guards deceived, to return ; but there 
was the enemy, who might take me in my trepidation. If 
I had departed, I feared lest perchance I might be taken, 
destined to go as a present to some daughter-in-law of Priam. 
But I was given up, because I was to be delivered up ; so 
many nights have I been away, and yet I am not demanded 
back ; thou dost linger, and thy wrath is of long endurance. 
At the time when I was being delivered up, the son of Menoe- 
tius whispered in my ear, " Why dost thou weep ? Thou wilt 
be here in a little time." Not to have demanded me back is 
too little ; thou dost endeavour, Achilles, that I may not be 
returned. 4 Go to, then, and still retain the name of an anxious 
lover. 

The sons of Telamon 5 and of Amyntor came to thee ; the one 

1 That was thy fault .] — Ver. 8. She seems here to he contradicting 
herself. Her meaning is, that Achilles was not to he hlamed for deli- 
vering her into the hands of Agamemnon, since that could not have been 
avoided ; but that he might be justly charged with delivering her up too 
quietly, as it would have been a very easy matter to create delay, and 
that delay would have been pleasing to her. 

2 And Taithybius.'] — Ver. 9. Eurybates and Taithybius were the 
heralds deputed by Agamemnon to fetch away Brise'is ; to whom she 
was delivered by Patroclus, the friend of Achilles. 

3 Inquired in silence.'] — Ver. 12. She says that even the heralds were 
surprised at the alacrity with which he delivered her to Agamemnon. 

4 Not be returned.] — Ver. 25. In this she reproaches Patroclus with 
perfidy, and Achilles with cowardice. 

5 Of Telamon.] — Ver. 27. Ajax, the son of Telamon, and Phcenix, 
the son of Amyntor, together with Ulysses, were sent as ambassadors by 
Agamemnon to Achilles, with the view of procuring a reconciliation. They 
were empowered to promise that Brise'is should be restored, and to offer 
him many rich presents ; but all their solicitations were fruitless, and 
Achilles remained inactive in his tent till the death of Patroclus aroused 
him to vengeance. 



EP. Ill,] BBISElS TO ACHILLES. 21 

related 6 to thee by affinity of blood, the other thy friend ; 7 the 
son of Laertes as well ; attended by them I might have re- 
turned. Persuasive entreaties were added to large presents ; 
twenty yellow cauldrons of brass curiously wrought, and seven 
tripods, 8 equal in weight and in skill ; to these were added 
twice five talents 9 of gold ; twice six 10 horses too, ever accus- 



6 The one related.'] — Ver. 28. Ajax was the son of Telamon, who was 
the brother of Peleus and the uncle of Achilles. 

7 The other thy friend.] — Ver. 28. Phoenix was appointed by Peleus 
to be the instructor and companion of Achilles, after he had been ex- 
pelled by his father, Amyntor, from his kingdom. 

8 Seven tripods.] — Ver. 32. The word ' tripos,' which is generally 
translated ' tripod,' signifies any utensil or article of furniture supported 
on three feet. It more especially means, 1. A three-legged table. These 
were made of different materials, such as marble, wood, porphyry, or 
other valuable materials. The tripod which was used at entertainments 
had short feet, and was not much elevated. 2. A pot or cauldron used 
for boiling meat, and either raised upon a three-legged stand of bronze, 
or made with its three feet in the same piece. These utensils were of 
great value, and were sometimes given as prizes in the public games. 
3. A bronze altar, probably not very dissimilar to the tripod cauldron 
already mentioned. The most ancient representations of the sacrificial 
tripod exhibit it in general of the same shape, with three rings at the top, to 
serve as handles. The oracular tripod at Delphi, from which the Pythian 
priestess gave responses, is supposed to have been of this kind. Besides 
the three legs and three handles which were fitted to the tripod, on it 
was placed a flat round plate, which the Greeks called oA//oc, on which 
the Pythian seated herself to give responses, and on which, at other times, 
a laurel wreath was placed. The fame of this tripod produced many imi- 
tations of it, which were known under the name of ' Delphic tripods,' 
and were made for the purpose of sacrifice, and also to be presented as 
offerings to the treasury both of the temple at Delphi and of other tem- 
ples of Greece. Tripods were especially sacred to Apollo and Bacchus ; 
and a tripod was given as a prize to the victors at the Pythian and other 
games which were celebrated in honour of Apollo. The theatre at 
Athens being considered sacred to Bacchus, the successful Choragus re- 
ceived a bronze tripod as an appropriate prize. Tripods were also some- 
times made of stone, probably for no purpose but as beautiful works of 
art. 

9 Five talents.] — Ver. 33. It must be remembered that the talent of 
the Homeric period, which is here referred to, was a denomination of 
value much smaller than the later Grecian talent, which consisted of 
sixty mime, or six thousand drachmae of about nine pence three farthings 
each. 

10 Twice sir.] — Ver. 34. Some MSS. have here ' bis septem,' ' twice 
seven :' but the other reading agrees with the narrative of Homer. 



22 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. III. 

tomed to victory ; and (what might have well been spared 11 ) 
Lesbian girls of exquisite beauty, their persons 12 captured in 
their pillaged home ; and together with so many of these, 
one of the three maiden daughters 13 of Agamemnon as a wife 
(but of a wife thou hast no need 14 ). 

Wilt thou refuse that, which thou oughtst to have given, 
if I could have been redeemed from the son of Atreus 16 at a 
price. By what fault, Achilles, have I deserved to become 
of no value to thee ? Whither has thy fickle affection so 
soon fled from me ? Does ill-fortune 16 tenaciously pursue the 
wretched? And does no propitious breeze favour my de- 
signs? By thy attacks have I seen the walls of Lyrnesus 17 
levelled ; and of my native country I was no inconsiderable 
part. I have seen fall three brothers, partners both in blood and 
in death ; 18 the mother of these three was my own parent. My 
husband too, 19 great as he was, I have beheld stretched upon 

11 Have well been spared.'] — Ver. 35. The naive manner in which her 
jealousy here peeps out is admirable. 

12 Their persons'] — Ver. 36. The use of the word 'corpora,' 'bodies,' 
seems very appropriate here : as slaves were often hardly looked upon as 
anything but mere ' bodies,' and were considered as unworthy of the rank 
of intelligent beings. 

13 Maiden daughters."] — Ver. 38. These were Chrysothemis, Laodice, 
and Iphianassa, or Iphigenia. 

14 Hast no need.] — Ver. 37. Either her jealousy prompts her to this 
remark, or she means to say that he is already affianced to Deidamia, the 
daughter of Lycomedes, king of Scyros. 

15 Son of Atreus.] — Ver. 39. According to some writers, Agamemnon 
was the son of Atreus, while others say that he was the son of Plis- 
thenes, the brother of Atreus ; and that being adopted by Atreus, he came 
in time to be considered as really his son. 

1G Does ill-fortune.] — Ver. 43. Here she endeavours to raise his pity by 
a detail of her various calamities, while she laments her hard fate, and the 
perpetual succession of misfortunes to which she has been doomed. She 
has seen the ruin of her native country, and the destruction of her nearest 
relations ; she has seen herself the captive of a foreign prince, and at the 
mercy of a conqueror ; and when she has flattered herself at last with the 
hope of some respite, new calamities arise, so that she can foresee no end 
to her miseries. 

17 Walls of Lyrnesus.] — Ver. 45. Commentators are divided as to the 
situation of Lyrnesus. According to some, it was in Cilicia, in Asia Minor ; 
while others say, perhaps with more probability, that it was in the greater 
Mysia, and opposite to the isle of Lesbos. 

1S And in death.] — Ver. 47. Achilles slew the three brothers of Briseis, 
and her father, Brises, committed self-destruction by hanging himself. 

19 My husband too.] — Ver. 50. Minetes, king of part of Cilicia, was 



EP. in.] EBISE1S TO ACHILLES. 23 

the bloodstained earth, heaving his breast drenched with gore. 
Yet, for so many lost, thee as the only recompense 20 I had ; 
thou wast my lord, my husband, my brother. 

Thou, thyself, swearing by the Godhead of thy ocean 
mother, 21 used to say that it was my advantage 22 to be made 
a captive. For instance, — to repulse me, though I come 
with a dowry : and together with myself, to decline those 
riches which are oifered to thee. Besides, there is a re- 
port that when to-morrow's morn 23 shall have shone, thou 
wilt open the flaxen sails 24 to the cloud bearing South winds 25 . 

the husband of Brisei's. He was slain at the taking of the city of 
Lyrnesus. 

20 The only recompense.'] — Ver. 51. It must be confessed that it does 
not say much for the feelings of Brisei's, when she says that the person 
who had slain her husband and her brothers, was her only recompense 
for her loss. 

21 Thy ocean mother.'] — Ver. 53. Thetis, who was a Goddess of the sea. 
32 Was my advantage.] — Ver. 54. Her expostulation is strong and full 

of pathos. She had hoped (though rather unnaturally, we should think) to 
find in Achilles a recompense for all her misfortunes. He himself had 
told her that her captivity should ultimately be for her advantage : and 
yet so little now does he regard her, that he prefers gratifying his resent- 
ment to promoting her happiness : and rather than yield to the wishes of 
Agamemnon, he has refused to take her back, and even expresses his in- 
tention of returning home without her. 

23 To-morroiv's morn.] — Ver. 57- ' Eos' is a name often given by the 
Latin poets to Aurora. It also signifies ' the East.' or ' the land of the 
morning/ 

24 The flaxen sails.] — Ver. 58. Pliny the Elder uses the word ' linteus.' 
to signify cloth of various materials, cotton for instance. But, with the 
ancients, the sails of ships were usually made of linen, which was manu- 
factured in great quantities in Egypt, a country famous for its flax. Sails 
were woven also at Tarquinii, in Etruria. Cotton sail-cloth was sometimes 
used, as it is at the present day in the Mediterranean : and it is thought by 
many to be superior to that made of linen. The separate pieces of linen 
(lintea) were taken as they came from the loom, and were sewed to- 
gether. In the ancient paintings of ships, the seams are represented as 
distinct and regular. Most of the ships had but one sail, which was at- 
tached with the yard to the great mast. Sometimes, however, when greater 
speed was required, two sails were attached to one mast. The sails of 
the Athenian ships of war, and of most of the ancient ships in general , 
were of a square form : and it is doubtful whether the Greeks ever used 
triangular sails. The Romans used triangular sails, which they called 
1 suppara,' and which had the shape of an inverted A, or Delta, the upper 
side of which was attached to the yard. 

25 South winds.] — Ver. 58. The word ' Notis,' which generally 



24 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEEOINES. [EP. III. 

Soon as, in my misery, this criminal resolve reached my alarmed 
ears, my breast was bereft of blood and of breath. Thou 
wilt depart ; and, ah wretched me ! to whom, barbarous man, 
wilt thou be leaving me ? what comforting solace will there 
be for me forlorn 1 Sooner, I pray, might 1 be swallowed 27 by 
the earth suddenly yawning, or might I be burnt by the flash- 
ing fires of the hurled lightnings, than that without me the seas 
should grow white with the oars of Phthia," and than I, left 
behind, should see thy ships departing. If now a return 
pleases thee, the Penates too of thy country, I am no great 
burden to thy fleet. 

As a captive will I follow the conqueror ; not as a wife the 
husband ; I have hands skilled at teasing the wool. By far 
the most beauteous among the Achsean dames shall, as thy 
wife, repair to thy couch (and let her so repair). A daughter- 
in-law let her be worthy of her father-in-law, the grandson of 
Jupiter and of iEgina : 29 to whom the aged Nereus may wish 
to be a connexion by marriage. 30 In humble station, 31 and as 
thy handmaid, the given task will I ply, and the threads shall 
diminish my loaded distaff. Only, I entreat that thy wife 

means the South winds, is perhaps used here to signify any wind favour- 
able to the return of Achilles ; inasmuch as the South wind would be ex- 
tremely unfavourable for his return. Virgil, in the first book of the 
yEneid, uses the word ' Eurus,' which is properly the East wind, to signify 
any wind : — ' Vix septem (naves) convulsse undis Euroque supersunt.' 

27 Be swallowed.] — Ver. 63. She perhaps had in view here, the fate 
of Amphiaraiis, who was swallowed up, together with his chariot, by a 
chasm in the earth, during the Theban war. 

23 Of Phthia.]—Yer. 65. The Phthians were the people of Phthia, a 
city of Thessaly, the kingdom of Achilles. 

29 Jupiter and of JEgina.] — Ver. 73. iEacus was the son of Jupiter 
and iEgina, and the father of Peleus. 

a0 Connexion by marriage.'] — Ver. 74. We have no word in the 
English language to express the meaning of 'prosocer.' It here means 
* husband's grandfather,' or ' mother-in-law's father ;' as Nereus was the 
father of Thetis, the mother of Achilles. Some writers, however, call the 
name of the father of Thetis, Chiron. 

31 In humble station.] — Ver. 75. The language of Briseis is very 
affecting. She says that no condition of life appears to her more 
wretched than that of being separated from the man she loves. She 
would consent to see him in the arms of another, and submit to do the 
meanest service in his house, if she could only enjoy the pleasure of being 
near his person. She would even submit to ill-treatment from her, whom 
he should make the partner of Ms bed, rather than be absent from him. 



EP. III.] BEISE1S TO ACHILLES. 25 

may not persecute me as a rival, who, to what extent 1 know 
not, will prove hostile to me. And do not permit her, 
before thee, to tear my hair, 32 and do thou gently say, " This 
damsel was once my own." Even let me bear this, so as I 
am not abandoned in contempt. That dread, alas ! thrills 
through my bones in my wretchedness. 

But what dost thou wish for ? Agamemnon repents of his 
anger, and all Greece is lying disconsolate before thy feet. 
Thou who dost conquer every thing else, conquer thy own feel- 
ings and thy temper. Why is the restless Hector destroying the 
resources of Greece ? To arms, 33 grandson of iEacus ! but still, 
having first recovered me ; and hi prosperous warfare, do thou 
harass their vanquished troops. On my account was anger ex- 
cited, on my account let it end : and let me be both the cause 
and the termination of thy sorrow. And deem it no disgrace 
for thee to listen to my prayers : by the entreaties of his wife 
was the son of (Eneus 34 persuaded to arm. A thing heard 

33 To tear my Mir.'] — Ver. 79. It was the custom to cut close the hair 
of slaves. This practice may be here referred to, though it is more proba- 
ble that she appeals to him for protection from the passion of his future 
wife, when she should feel inclined to tear the hair of her slave, which 
seems to have been a not unusual habit among the ladies of ancient 
times. 

a3 To arms.'] — Ver. 86. Having already endeavoured to move Achilles 
by arguments drawn from her own love and affection for him, she 
now attempts to arouse his courage, and to awaken him to a sense of 
glory. He alone is able to resist the impetuosity of Hector. ' Is it possi- 
ble that he can stand still, and tamely behold the victories of his enemy, 
see him triumph over his country, and unimpeded carry off the prize of 
valour ?' At the same time, it seems somewhat singular that she should 
make these appeals to the disadvantage of the Trojans, who had so recently 
been the allies of her country and her kindred. 

u The son of CEneus.] — Ver. 92. Meleager was the son of (Eneus, 
king of Calydon, and Althea. Diana, incensed against his father, who, in 
a general sacrifice to the Gods, had been guilty of neglecting her, sent a 
huge boar to ravage his territory. Meleager hunted the boar, and, after 
it was killed by himself and his companions, presented its head to 
Atalanta, the daughter of Iasius, king of Argos,who had been the first to 
wound the monster. This exciting the jealousy and indignation of Toxeus 
and Plexippus, his mother's brothers, they attempted to wrest her prize 
from Atalanta, on which Meleager slew them both. On this, a war arising 
between the Curetes and the Calydonians, Meleager, terrified at the im- 
precations of his mother, would not assist in protecting his country, or 
in driving away the enemy, though the danger was most imminent. At 



26 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. Ill 

by me, 'tis known to thee. Bereft of her brothers, 35 the mother 
doomed 36 both the hopes and the existence of her son. There 
was a war ; he, in disgust, laid down his arms and withdrew, 
and with a firm determination refused aid to his native 
country. His wife alone 37 moved her husband. More happy 
she ! whereas my words are wasted, as having no weight. 

Still, I do not repine ; neither have I conducted myself as 
thy wife, 38 though oft as a slave summoned to my master's 
bed. A certain captive, as I remember, was calling me ' mis- 
tress:' 39 "To my servitude," I said, "thou dost add a burden 
by the name." Yet, by the bones of my husband, but half 
covered in a hurried tomb, bones, in my estimation, ever to 
be respected ; and by the brave spirits of my three brothers, 
my own Divinities, who bravely fell both, for their country, 
and with their country : and by thy head and my own, which 
we have placed on the pillow close together, 40 and by thy sword, 

length, by the prayers and entreaties of Cleopatra, his wife, he was pre- 
vailed upon to take arms. 

35 Of her brothers.] — Ver. 93. These were the sons of Thestius, who 
are usually called Toxeus and Plexippus, but sometimes Protus and 
Cometes. 

36 The mother doomed.] — Ver. 94. This was when Althea placed on 
the fire the fatal billet upon which the life of Meleager depended. 

37 His wife alone.] — Ver. 97. Hyginus, Fable 174, calls the wife 
of Meleager by the name of Halcyone. By Antoninus Liberalis and 
Homer she is called Cleopatra ; and the scholiasts on Homer say that 
she was the daughter of Aphareus and Marpusa, w T hich is also confirmed 
by Apollodorus, who adds, that after the death of Meleager she com- 
mitted suicide. 

38 As thy wife.] — Ver. 99. She tells him that his kindness did not 
create any pride or presumption on her part ; she did not boast of being 
his wife, but submitted cheerfully to the rigours of servitude. 

39 Calling me 'mistress.'] — Ver. 101. 'Dominus' means 'master' or 
' owner,' and ' domina' ' a mistress '; in addressing a person, the latter 
word would be equivalent to our ' my lady,' or ' mistress.' These words 
are used especially as opposed to ■ servus,' the ' slave.' Pliny the Younger, 
in his Epistles, addresses Trajan as ' Dominus ;' but this is probably meant 
as a mark of respect, equivalent to our ' sire,' and not as the acknow- 
ledgment of a title. The emperor Domitian claimed the epithet ' Do- 
minus' as a title ; and Aurelian is said to have been the first to adopt it 
on his medals. The Roman ladies took the title of ' Domina' from their 
fourteenth year. 

40 Pillow close together.] — Ver. 107. In common life the ancients 
were in the habit of swearing by the Gods, and sometimes by individuals 
or things most dear to them. Thus we have instances of a person swear- 



EP. III.] BEISE1S TO ACHILLES. 2/ 

a weapon experienced by my family ; I swear that the sovereign 
of Mycense 41 has never shared my couch with me : mayst tlioa 
be ready to forsake me, if I speak false. 

Were I now to say to thee : " Most valiant hero, do thou 
swear too, that without me, no joys hast thou experienced ;" 
thou wouldst decline. But the Greeks think that thou art 
sorrowing. By thee the plectrum is moved 4 ' 2 to the lyre : in 
her warm bosom is a tender mistress 43 pressing thee. And if 
any one inquires why thou dost decline to fight ; " warfare 
is hateful; the lyre, the song, and love have charms." "Tis 
safer to be stretched on a couch, and to be fondling a mis- 
tress, and to be striking the Thracian lyre 44 with the fingers, 

ing by his own welfare or that of his children, and by his own head or 
that of another, as in the present instance. 

41 Sovereign of Mycence.] — Ver. 109. Agamemnon was the king of 
Mycenae, in Peloponnesus. Homer represents him as giving the same 
assurance to Nestor that is here given by Briseis. 

42 Plectrum is moved.] — Ver, 113. In other words, 'you are passing 
your time with music/ as the plectrum was the thin stick or quill with 
which the strings of the lyre were touched. 

43 A tender mistress.] — Ver. 114. She is probably alluding to Dio- 
rneda, the daughter of Phorbas, with whom, as we are told by Homer, 
Achilles was wont to pass the time in the absence of Briseis. 

44 Thracian lyre.] — Ver. 118. The lyre was introduced by Orpheus into 
Thrace, and became the favourite instrument of that country. This in- 
strument was probably first used by the Eastern nations and the Egyptians, 
from whom the Greeks learned the use of it. The Greeks, however, at- 
tributed the invention of the lyre to Hermes or Mercury, who is said to 
have formed the instrument of a tortoise-shell, over which he placed 
strings. Diodorus says that the lyre of Mercury had but three strings, 
while Macrobius says four, and that they symbolically represented the 
four seasons of the year ; Lucian, and Ovid in the Sixth Book of the 
Fasti, assume that from the first the lyre had seven strings. It is proba- 
ble that the lyre differed from the ' cithara,' which resembled the modern 
guitar, (and probably gave its name to it) ; inasmuch as in the 'cithara' the 
strings were drawn across the sounding bottom, whereas in the lyre, at 
least that of later times, they were free on both sides, like the harp. In the 
Homeric hymn to Hermes or Mercury, the term Xupy Ki9api'£fiv is used, 
from which it would seem that in the early ages there was no distinction 
between the ' lyra' and the ' cithara,' or, in other terms, the instrument 
known by those names was a • cithara' in the later sense of the word. 
Terpander, of Antissa, is said to have added to the original number of 
four strings three new ones, and thus to have changed the tetrachord 
into a heptachord. Timotheus of Miletus, in the time of Alexander the 
Great, increased the number of strings to eleven. The lyre was considered 
a more manly instrument than the ' cithara.' These instruments were 
often adorned in the most costly manner with gold and ivory. 



28 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. III. 

than to be bearing a shield in the hand, and a sharp-pointed 
lance, and a helmet on thy pressed locks. But, instead of 
safety, glorious exploits used to please thee ; and sweet was 
the fame acquired by warfare. Or didst thou admire fierce 
warfare only until thou hadst made me a captive ? and with 
my native land does thy glory lie extinguished. May the Gods 
grant it otherwise ; and may the lance from Pelion, 45 I pray, 
poised by thy strong arm, pierce the sides of Hector. 

Send me thither,* 6 ye Greeks ; your envoy, I will entreat 
my master, and many a kiss will I give, intermingled with 
your injunctions. More will I effect than Phoenix, more than 
eloquent Ulysses, more will I effect (believe me) than the 
brother of Teucer. 'Tis something to encircle his neck with 
my arms as formerly, and to remind his eyes of one's own 
presence. Though thou wouldst be cruel and more obdurate 
than the waves of thy mother, though I were silent, thou 
wouldst be influenced by my tears. And now, (then may 
thy father Peleus fulfil the measure of his years, then under 
thy auspices may Pyrrhus 47 assume arms) do, valiant Achilles, 
regard the anxious Brise'is, and do not, hard as iron, torment 

45 Lance from Pelion.'] — Ver. 126. The spear of Achilles was made 
of wood from Mount Pelion, in Thessaly. Homer says that the weight 
of it was such that it could be wielded only by himself ; and that when 
Patroclus assumed his other armour, he was obliged to forego the spear. 

45 Send me thither.] — Ver. 127. There is considerable beauty in this pas- 
sage. Briseis fancies that she is likely to have more influence over Achilles 
than the deputies of Agamemnon, and to be able to prevail when theyare re- 
pulsed. The remembrance of past endearments, the presence of the person 
whom he has loved, and those tender feelings which the sight of her cannot 
fail to raise in him, will, she flatters herself, make him incapable of resisting 
her suit. From this, she very naturally falls into an expostulation with 
him as though present, chides him for his obstinacy and neglect, and 
tells him that it will be less cruel to deprive her at once of life, than thus 
to make her languish in uncertainty aDd fear. She then concludes with 
a simple and touching appeal, ' It will be better to deprive me of life 
than to keep me in this cruel uncertainty ; but better still to preserve my 
life and happiness together, and to prolong those days which are your 
own gift. Troy will afford you plenteous objects on which you may 
wreak your vengeance. Restore me, then, to my former place in your 
affections.' 

47 May Pyrrhus.] — Ver. 136. Pyrrhus, or Neoptolemus, was the son 
of Achilles by Deidamia. After his father's death he repaired to the 
Grecian camp, and distinguished bimself by his valour. Virgil represents 
him as putting Priam to death at the taking of Troy. 



EP. IV.J PHJEDBA. TO HIPPOLYTUS. 29 

her with prolonged delays. Or if thy affection is changed to a 
loathing of me, force me to die, whom thou dost oblige to 
exist without thee. . And as thou art now doing, thou wilt force 
me ; both my flesh and my colour are gone ; and still does 
the hope alone of thy love support this remainder of life. 
Should I be deprived of this, I shall seek again my brothers 
and my husband ; a woman bid to die, will be no mighty exploit 
of thine. 

But why shouldst thou bid this ? strike my body with the 
drawn sword : I have blood enough to flow from my pierced 
breast. Let that sword of thine, which, had the Goddess 
allowed it, 48 was about to pierce the breast of the son of Atreus, 
be aimed at me. Ah I rather preserve my life, thy own gift ; as 
thy mistress do I ask of thee that which thou, when the con- 
queror, didst give to me as an enemy. Pergamus, built by 
Neptune, affords that which more fitly thou mayst destroy; seek 
of the enemy a subject for destruction. Only, whether thou 
art preparing to impel thy fleet with the oars, or whether thou 
dost remain here, in the right of a master do thou order me 
to come to thee. 



EPISTLE IV. 
PtLEDRA TO HIPPOLYTUS. 

The Athenians having murdered Androgeus, the son of Minos, king of 
Crete, he made war upon them, and compelled them yearly to deliver 
to him seven sons of the nobility, to be devoured by the Minotaur. The 
lot falling, among others, upon Theseus the son of iEgeus,. king of 
Athens, he went to Crete, where he slew the monster, and then escaped 
from the Labyrinth by means of a clue, which he received from Ariadne, 
the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae. In return for this service, hs 
promised to marry her ; and, on leaving Crete, took her and her sister 
Phaedra with him. Having afterwards deserted Ariadne, in the isle 
of Naxos, he married Phaedra. Previously to this, Theseus had a 
son named Hippolytus, by Hippolyta, or Antiope, the Amazon. Of hira, 
in her husband's absence, Phaedra became enamoured. He, being de- 
voted to a life of chastity, and delighting in hunting and similar exei- 
cises, made no return to her passion. She is supposed, on this, to write 

48 Goddess allowed it."] — Ver. 147. According to Homer, Minerva 
restrained the extreme fury of Achilles, when he drew his sword against 
Agamemnon. 



30 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. IT. 

to him the following Epistle, in which she confesses her passion, and 
endeavours, by all the methods of art and persuasion, to inspire him 
with a mutual tenderness, and to efface the horror which the idea of 
the crime would naturally inspire in his breast. 

That health 49 of which she herself will be deprived, unless 
thou shalt grant it to her, the Cretan dame 50 sends to the 
hero born of the Amazon. 51 Whatever it proves, read this 
through : what harm will the reading of a letter do ? In this 
there maybe something which may even be to thy advantage. 
In these characters are secrets borne over land and sea ; an 
enemy reads 52 the letters sent by his enemy. Thrice have I 
attempted to discourse with thee, thrice has my tongue failed 
through inability, thrice have the words forsaken me on the 
edge of my lips. So far as is possible and is convenient, 
modesty must be united with love. Love has bid 53 me 
write that which I was ashamed to say. Whatever love has 
commanded, it is not safe to despise ; he rules, and over the 
supreme Gods he holds his sway. 

When first I was hesitating to write, he said to me, " Write ; 
hard as iron though he be, he shall extend his conquered 
hands." May he be propitious ; and as he is heating my 

49 That health. .] — Ver. 1. The word ' salutem' here may be rendered 
' health' or ' salutation,' though the former word is requisite for giving the 
full meaning of the passage. 

50 The Cretan dame.~\ — Ver. 2. Phosdra was the daughter of Minos, 
king of Crete, while Hippolytus was the son of the Amazon Hippolyta, or 
Antiope. 

51 Born of the Amazon.'] — Ver. 3. Hippolytus had hitherto neglected 
the charms of the fair sex, and had preferred the chase to female society. 
Phasdra being no stranger to his feelings, she not only doubts of her ulti- 
mate success, but has reason to fear that he will not even peruse her letter. 

52 An enemy reads.] — Ver. 6. She endeavours, by her arguments, to 
persuade him to a step to which she knows he will be naturally averse. 
First she endeavours to excite his curiosity, and to make him believe that 
he will find in the letter something that may prove agreable ; then she tells 
him that even an enemy would not refuse to read a letter ; much less then 
ought he whom she loves so tenderly, and who in common humanity is 
bound to make her some adequate return. 

63 Love has bid.] — Ver. 10. She now proffers an excuse for her 
forwardness. Shame will not allow her to speak her mind openly, and 
love, ever fertile in expedients, has suggested to her this method of making 
her feelings known to him. She shows how great is the power of that 
Divinity, who is so irresistible that even the Gods themselves are not ex- 
empted from the power of his darts. How little the blame, then, for a 
weak woman to give way to him. 



EP. IY.j PH^DKA TO HIPPOLTTUS. 31 

marrow with his devouring flame, so may he change 54 thy 
feelings to my desires. By no criminality 55 will I break my 
nuptial vows ; my fame (I wish thou wouldst enquire) is free 
from all reproach. The later love comes, the more violent 
does he come : inwardly do I burn ; I burn, and my breast 
receives the secret wound. Just as the first yoke galls the 
tender oxen, and. the horse taken from the herd hardly sub- 
mits to the reins ; so with difficulty and reluctance does my 
inexperienced bosom submit to its first passion ; and this 
burden sits not lightly on my mind. When this failing is 
practised even from childhood, the resources of art 56 avail : she 
whom it assaults at a later period, loves distractedly. 

Thou shalt receive the first offerings of a cherished fame, 
and both of us 57 shall be guilty in an equal degree. 'Tis 
something 58 to strip the orchards with their loaded branches, 
and with the sharp nail to pluck the early rose. If, how- 
ever, 59 that former chastity in which I lived without a blemish, 

5i So may he change.] — Ver. 16. Instead of ' figat/ the usual reading 
in this line, Burmann suggests ' frangat,' which reading has been adopted. 

55 By no criminality.'] — Ver. 17. She evidently means to say that her 
approaches are not prompted by lust, but by an affection of a pure nature. 
Crispinus, however, explains the passage in these words, ' Non libiclinosa 
levitate foedera, quae tu mecum iniveris, rumpam : ' ' I will not break with 
lustful wantonness those ties which you shall form with me.' He has evi- 
dently mistaken the meaning of the passage. 

58 Resources of art.] — Ver. 25. She continues to plead her own cause 
Math all the address of which she is the mistress. Love has taken posses- 
sion of her at a more mature age, and therefore it is the more violent, 
and the more difficult to be removed. Had she been accustomed to it 
from her younger years, she might have known how to repress it : but 
her unpractised heart, unable to oppose its ravages, suffers itself to be 
wholly possessed by her passion. 

57 And both of us.] — Ver. 28. Inasmuch as he has never hitherto be- 
stowed his affection on any female, and she has never loved any other per- 
son than her husband. 

58 ' Tis something.] — Ver. 29. Her artfulness is very aptly displayed 
in this passage. She chooses a very defective side of human nature for 
her attack. Nothing is more common, and indeed more successful, than 
to set a chimerical value upon certain things, and in that light to invite a 
pursuit of objects which otherwise we might despise, or perhaps even 
regard with horror. 

59 If, however.] — Ver. 31. Phaedra here begins to reason with herself, 
and to take a view of the crime the commission of which she is about to 
attempt. But as, when we have once resolved upon a thing, we are never 
at a loss to find plausible pretences for our justification, such is the case 
with Phaedra. As she has wholly given herself up to this fatal passion, she 



32 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOINES. [EP. TV. 

must be spotted by some unusual stain, still it has happily 
fallen out that I burn with a worthy flame ; no worthless 
paramour is there, himself more disgraceful than the adultery. 
Should Judo 60 yield to me her brother and her husband, I seem 
as though I should prefer Hippolytus to Jove. Now, too, (thou 
wouldst hardly believe it), I am urged on 61 to pursuits hitherto 
unknown to me ; I have a desire to go amid the savage wild 



Now is she of Delos 62 my chief Divinity, distinguished by 
her crooked bow ; I consign myself to thy tastes. Into the 
groves am I desirous to go, and, the stags pursued into the 
toils, to cheer on the swift hounds over the mountain ridges ; 
or else to poise the quivering javelin with shaken arm, or to re- 
cline my body on the grassy ground. Often do I delight to 
guide the light chariot in the dust, as I turn the heads of the 
swift steeds with the reins. Now am I borne onward like the 
Eieleides, 63 impelled by the inspiration of Bacchus, and those 

can be satisfied with reasons, which in no other circumstances could ap- 
pear of weight. Though she is forced to own that her design is crimi- 
nal, yet she thinks it some excuse that she is about to offend with a man 
of virtuous character ; and she disdains to commit, if we may be allowed 
the paradox, an inglorious crime. 

60 Should Juno.] — Ver. 35. Juno was fabled to be both the sister and 
the wife of Jupiter : probably with the object of showing how utterly the 
Deities disregarded mere mortal ordinances. 

61 I am urged on."] — Ver. 37. In the Art of Love, Ovid lays it down 
as one of his rules, that a lover ought to take pleasure in the same exer- 
cises, pursuits, and diversions, as his mistress. Agreeably to this notion, 
Phaedra here addresses Hippolytus ; and professes herself to be delighted 
with bunting, knowing that to be his chief delight. 

62 She of Delos.] — Ver. 40. Diana, the sister of Apollo, was born in 
the island of Delos ; she was the patron of the chase and field sports. 

Ci The Eieleides.] — Ver. 47. Tbe votaries of Bacchus are called Eie- 
leides after that God, one of whose names was Eleleus. He was so called 
either from Helus, a town of iEtolia, where he was especially worshipped, 
or else from the vociferations and cries (of which ' Eleleu ' was one) which 
attended his rites. Ovid mentions Eleleus as a nameof Bacchus intheFourth 
Book of the Metamorphoses. Macrobius says that it was also one of the 
epithets of Apollo, and that he was so called cltto tov iXtrrtaOai 7repi rr\v 
yi)v, ' from his revolving round the earth.' As ' Eleleu ' was one of the 
shouts of the Greeks and of the Eastern nations, denoting joy or triumph, 
it is not unlikely that Apollo, as well as Bacchus, received this epithet from 
that source, and not from the fanciful origin suggested by Macrobius. We 
retain the Hebrew form of the same word in the word ' Hallelujah,' it bein^ 
the same interjection with the addition of ' Jab.,' ' God.' 



EP. IV.] PH^EDKA TO HIPPOLTTUS. 33 

who shake 64 the tambourines at the foot of the hill of Ida ; or 
those whom the Dryads, 65 half Divinities, and the two-homed 
Fauns 66 have maddened, when touched by the enthusiasm 67 im- 
parted by them. For when this fury has abated, they tell me 
all ; conscious Love is consuming me in my suspense. Per- 
haps I may be owing this passion to the destinies of my 
family, and Venus may be demanding 68 this tribute of all 
their race. 

64 Those who shake.] — Ver. 48. Some would suggest the masculine 
1 quique,' for ' quseque/ as the Galli, or priests of Cybele, who are here 
alluded to, were males. Ovid seems, however, as they were eunuchs, pur- 
posely to refuse to acknowledge them as of the male sex. In the same 
way, the poet Catullus describes Attis as a female ; and Claudian in a simi- 
lar manner alludes to the eunuch Eutropius. Lucian, however, says not 
only that the Galli were clothed in female dress, but that women were also 
mingled with them. The Galli were also called Idsei Dactyli. According 
to Euripides, these devotees, having sacrified to Cybele, or the Mother of 
the Gods, proceeded in a wild procession from Ida, the mountain in Phrygia, 
to mount Olympus. 

63 The Dryads.] — Ver. 49. The Dryads were Nymphs who were the 
guardians of the woods and groves. Their name is derived from the 
Greek SpvQ, * an oak.' 

66 Two-horned Fauns.] — Ver. 49. Some persons were said to be in- 
spired by the visits of Divinities in the night, such as those in Latium, who 
were said to consult the Fauns in the night-time. We are told by Caius 
Bassus that Faunus, the son of Picus, first instituted sacred rites in ho- 
nour of his grandfather Saturn, and procured the reception of his father 
Picus and his sister Fauna among the Gods. Fauna was consecrated as 
being also the wife of Faunus ; and, according to Varro, she was the same 
Goddess that was worshipped under the name of Bona Dea. She was 
consulted by the women, while the men made application for responses 
to Faunus. Pan seems also to have been introduced into Latium, under 
the name of Faunus. Ovid, in the Second Book of the Fasti, relates an 
adventure of Pan with Hercules and Omphale, under that name. 

67 By the enihusiasrn.] — Ver. 50. She here makes allusion to those who 
were called Lymphatics by the ancients. They wei'e persons who were 
said to have seen some kind of Divinity, or rural Deity or Nymph, which 
threw them into transports that overcame their reason. Their ecsta- 
sies were shown in quakings and tremblings, tossing of the head and limbs, 
and, according to Livy, convulsions, extemporary prayers, prophecies, 
singing and the like. According to Pliny the Elder, the magicians were 
not able to cure these unfortunate persons, and they never recovered 
their senses, unless they were first sprinkled with the blood of moles. 

66 May be demanding.] — Ver. 54. She alludes to the discovery by the 
Sun, or Apollo, of the intrigue between Mars and Venus ; in revenge for 
which, Venus kindled among the female descendants of Apollo such a flame 

D 



34 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEKOIKES. [EP. IT. 

Jupiter loved Europa, 69 (such is the origin of my family) 
the bull concealing the God. Pasiphae, 70 my mother, sub- 
mitting to the deceived bull, produced from her womb her 
conviction and her burden. The perfidious son of iEgeus, 71 
following the guiding clue, fled from the winding abode 
by the aid of my sister. Lo ! I now, lest perchance I should 
be deemed too little the daughter of Minos, conform, the last 
of the family, to the laws of our blood. This, too, is decreed 
by fate ; one house won the regards of us two ; thy beauty 
attracts me, by thy father was my sister captivated. The son 
of Theseus and Theseus himself have charmed two sisters ; erect 
a twofold trophy gained of our family. I would that, at the 
time when Eleusis, 72 sacred to Ceres, was entered by thee, the 
Gnossian land 73 had still retained me ; it was then especially 

of love, that not one of them was able to preserve her chastity, as Phaedra 
goes on to prove. So Seneca, in his Hippolytus, says — 
" Sirpem perosa Solis invisi genus, 

Per nos catenas vindicat Martis sui, 

Suasque ; probris omne Phoebeum genus 

Onerat nefandis. Nulla Minois levi 

Defuncta amore est." 
" Abhorring the progeny of the hated Sun, on us she avenges the chains 
of her Mars and of herself ; with shocking disgrace does she load all the 
race of Phcebus. No female descendant of Minos has been visited with a 
moderate passion." 

69 Loved Europa.] — Ver. 55. The story of Jupiter and Europa is re- 
lated at length in the Second Book of the Metamorphoses. 

70 Pasiphae.'] — Ver. 57. Pasiphae was the daughter of the Sun, and 
the wife of Minos, king of Crete ; as the result of her infamous passion, 
she gave birth to the Minotaur, which was afterwards slain by Theseus. 

71 Son of JEyeus.] — Ver. 59. She gives another illustration in the case 
of her sister Ariadne, who, loving Theseus the son of iEgeus, instructed 
him how he might slay the Minotaur, and at the same time gave him a 
clue by which he was enabled to extricate himself from the labyrinth. He 
afterwards deserted her in the island of Naxos, where she was found by 
Bacchus. 

72 Eleusis.'] — Ver. 67. Eleusis, or Eleusin, was a city of Attica, which 
lay to the west of Athens. Here was a temple sacred to the Eleusinian 
Ceres, where her mysteries were celebrated. The place is said to have 
derived its name from the Greek word eXevatg, ' an arrival,' as that was 
the first place where Ceres rested on her arrival in Greece in her search 
for her daughter Proserpine, when she had been carried off by Pluto. It 
was at these sacred rites, Phosdra says, that she was first smitten with 
her passion for Hippolytus. 

73 The Gnossian land.] — Ver. 68. Gnosus, or Gnossus, or Cnossus, 
was a famous city in the isle of Crete, where Minos had his palace. 



EP. IV.J PH^EDEA to hippolytus. 35 

(and yet before that as well), that thou didst please me ; 
piercing loves penetrated to my inmost bones. White were 
thy vestments, 74 thy hair was wreathed with flowers ; 75 a 
modest blush had tinted thy rosy face. Thy features too, 
which others call harsh and stern, instead of being harsh, 
were, in the estimation of Phsedra, manly. Afar from me be 
all youths that are decked out like women ; a manly form 
requires to be adorned within moderate limits. That stern- 
ness of thine, and thy locks arranged without art, and the 
little dust on thy beauteous face, are becoming. 

Whether thou art bending the reluctant neck of the fiery 
steed, I delight to see his feet turning in the little ring : 75 
or whether thou art hurling the huge lance with nervous arm, 
thy stalwart arm has my eyes turned towards it ; or whether 
thou art brandishing the cornel hunting-spears 77 with the 
broad iron point; in fine, whatever thou art doing, it delights 
my eyes. Only, do thou leave thy moroseness for the woods 
of the mountain ridge ; I am not deserving to perish by thy 
agency. What does it profit to follow the pursuits of the 
tightly girt Diana, 78 and to deprive Venus of her dues ? That 

" 4 White were thy vestments.'] — Ver. 71; She describes him here pro- 
bably in the garb of one about to be initiated into the Eleusinian mys- 
teries. In the ' Hippolytus' of Euripides, he is introduced as offering a 
wreath to Diana on this occasion. 

75 Wreathed with flowers. ,] — Ver. 71. She now proceeds to show the 
progress of her passion. His dress, his air, his manner, in a word, every 
thing about him is full of charms of an irresistible nature. If he is 
mounted on horseback, she is delighted with the skill and art of the rider. 
If he hurls the flying javelin> she is charmed with his strength and agility. 
His dress is negligent and graceful, such as becomes a hero ; his looks, 
whatever they may appear to others, appear in her eyes befitting a man, 
brave and courageous. All this is very natural, and well worthy of so 
skilful a master as Ovid. 

76 In the little ring.] — Ver. 80. She alludes to the ' gyrus,' which was 
a small ring, round which horses were ridden, for the purpose of exercise, 
or of breaking them in. The same practice, in breaking horses in, is adopted 
at the present day. 

77 Cornel hunting-spears.] — Ver. 82. The ' venabulum,' or hunting- 
spear of the ancients, may possibly, by being barbed, have been distin- 
guished from the spears and lances used in warfare ; it is so represented 
in several ancient works of art. It was seldom, if ever, thrown, but held 
so as to slant downwards, and thus to receive the onsets of the wild boar 
and other beasts of chase. 

78 Tightly girt Diana.] — Ver. 87. Diana is called ' incincta,' from 

i>2 



36 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEEOINES. [EP. IV. 

which admits of no interval of rest, is not lasting ; 'tis that 
recruits our strength and refreshes our wearied limbs. 

The bow (and surely the arms of thy own Diana ought to 
be imitated by thee), shouldst thou never cease to bend it, will 
become weak. Cephalus was famed 79 in the woods, and many 
a wild beast had fallen on the grass, as he brought it down ; 
and still not unbecomingly did he allow himself to be loved 
by Aurora. The knowing Goddess went from an aged hus- 
band 80 to him. Full oft beneath the holm oaks has any 
grassy spot supported Venus and the son of Cinyras, 81 as 
they reclined. The son, too, of (Eneus burned for Maenalian 82 
Atalanta ; as a pledge of love, she possesses the spoils of the 
wild beasts. Let us too, now, be numbered for the first time 
in that throng — shouldst thou banish Venus, thy woods are 
repulsive. As thy attendant will I come ; neither the rugged 
rocks shall move me, nor the wild boar, dreadful with his 
sidelong tusk. 

Two seas beat the Isthmus with their waves, and a narrow 
slip of land hears either tide. Here, together with thee, 83 
will I inhabit Trcezen, the realms of Pittheus ; already is 
it dearer than my native country. The hero of the race of 
Neptune has been absent for some time, and for a long period 

having her garments tucked up and girt around her, with the view of 
securing speed, when engaged in her favourite pursuit of hunting. 

79 Cephalus was famed,] — Ver. 93. The story of Cephalus and Procris 
is related at length in the Seventh Book of the Metamorphoses. Accord- 
ing to the story as there narrated, he did not return the love of Aurora. 
Perhaps, however, the meaning here is, that though he was very fond 
of hunting, and other athletic exercises, he was no enemy to the delights 
of love, and was not displeased at the passion of Aurora. 

80 From an aged husband.'] — Ver. 96. The aged husband of Aurora, 
here alluded to, was Tithonus, the son of Laomedon, and the brother of 
Priam. 

81 The son of Cinyras.'] — Ver. 97- Adonis was the son of Cinyras, 
king of Cyprus, by his daughter, Myrrha. Their shocking story is related 
in the Tenth Book of the Metamorphoses. Venus was smitten with love 
for Adonis. 

82 Mainalian.'] — Ver. 99. Maenalus was a mountain of Arcadia. 

83 Together with thee.]— Ver. 107. Phsedra tells Hippolytus that she 
is willing to share every risk with him, and that she can be deterred by no 
dangers. She will be contented to live with him, whether hechooses theforests 
or the cities. If he should prefer the woods, she will accompany him in all 
his diversions, and cheerfully submit to the fatigues of the chase. If the 
cities delight him, she is willing to live with him in Trcezen, the place of 



EP. IV.] PHAEDRA. TO HIPPOLTTUS. '37 

will be absent ; the country of his own Pirithous 84 detains 
him. Theseus (unless we deny what is manifest), has pre- 
ferred Pirithous to Phsedra, Pirithous to thyself. Nor has 
this injury only accrued to us from him ; in matters of im- 
portance have we both been wronged. The bones of my 
brother, 85 broken with a three-knotted club, did he scatter on 
the ground ; to the wild beasts my sister was left a prey. 
Thy mother bore thee, the first among the females that wield 
the battle-axe s6 in valour, and worthy the prowess of her 
son. Shouldstthou enquire 87 where she is; Theseus pierced 
her side with the sword ; nor was a mother safe in a pledge 
of value so great. 

But, in fact, she was not married and received with the 
nuptial torch. Why so 1 Only that, being a bastard, thou 
mightst not receive the realms of thy father. He has given 
thee brothers too by me ; yet not I, but he, was the cause ss 

his own choice. This was a city of Argolis, in Peloponnesus, where 
Pittheus reigned, who was the father of iEthra, the mother of Theseus. 

S4 Pirithous.] — Ver. 110. Pirithous was the son of Ixion ; the region 
where he dwelt was that part of Thessaly which bordered upon the river 
Peneus, and where, according to Diodorus Siculus, Ixion reigned. The 
friendship between Theseus and Pirithous was almost as celebrated as 
that between Orestes and Pylades; 

85 Bones of my brother.'] — Ver. 115. This shows the dilemma to which 
Phaedra is reduced for an excuse for her infamous passion. She com- 
plains that Theseus had, a long time before, killed her monster brother, the 
Minotaur. This, however, had not had much influence on her hitherto, 
as she did not refuse to accompany her sister, Ariadne, in her escape 
with Theseus, from the wrath of Minos. 

86 The battle-axe.'] — Ver. 117. The battle-axe was the weapon especially 
used in war by the Amazons. 

87 Shouldst thou enquire.] — Ver. 119. After mentioning the injuries 
which she herself has received from Theseus, namely, the slaughter of her 
brother, the Minotaur, and the desertion of her sister, Ariadne, she pro- 
ceeds to say that the wrongs done by hhn to Hippolytus deserve equally 
to be resented. Theseus had cruelly murdered his mother, Hippolyta, 
queen of the Amazons. He had not avowed her as his lawful wife, con- 
sequently her son was excluded from the succession ; and, as though this 
had not been sufficient, to remove him still further from the throne, and 
to cut off from him all hopes of rule, he had given him brothers by her- 
self. Some writers represent that Hippolyta was killed by Hercules, who 
had been commanded by Eurystheus to bring to him her girdle. Other 
accounts state that he spared her life, and gave her to Theseus, who after- 
wards put her to death. 

88 Was the cause.] — Ver. 124. She tries to recommend herself, by 
insinuating that she had endeavoured to persuade Theseus to destroy her 



38 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. IV. 

of bringing them ail up. 0, that in the midst of travail, most 
beauteous of all things, the womb had been rent asunder 89 
that would prove of injury to thee. Go to, then ; respect 
the bed of a parent that thus deserves it ; the bed, from 
which he flies, and which by his deeds he rejects. And let 
not empty names terrify thy feelings, because I appear as a 
step-mother about to have intercourse with a step-son. That 
old-fashioned superstition, doomed to perish in a future age, 
existed, when Saturn held 90 his rustic sway. Jupiter 91 has de- 
termined that whatever is pleasing, the same is pious ; and 
the sister as the wife to the brother makes everything to be 
lawful. 92 That unison of blood is made stringent by a firm tie, 93 
to which Venus herself has added her own bonds. And there is 
no trouble in doing so : we may conceal it ; ask this as a 
favour of her ; under the name of relative our faults will be 
able to be concealed. Should any one see us embracing, we shall 
both be praised ; I shall be deemed an affectionate step-mother 

own children by him, and thus to promote the chance of Hippolytus suc- 
ceeding to the throne, but that he had refused. Among her children, by 
Theseus,was Demophoon, and, according to some, Acamantes. 

89 Been rent asunder.] — Ver. 126. Some suggest that by 'viscera,' 
Phaedra here means the child of which she was delivered, wishing that it 
might have been suffocated at its birth ; but it seems not improbable that 
her prayer is directed against herself, and that she wishes she had died in 
labour, instead of bringing children in the world to his injury. 

90 When Saturn held.] — Ver. 132. She alludes to the traditional ac- 
counts of the piety and virtue which universally existed in the Golden 
Age, when Saturn reigned. 

91 Jupiter. ~\ — Ver. 133. In many of the MSS. there are two lines 
added before this line, which are generally thought to be spurious : — 

* Saturnus periit, perierunt et sua jura. 
Sub Jove nunc mundus ; jussa Jovis sequere.' 
Or, ' jussa tuere Jovis,' or, as one MS. gives the last line : — 
' Sub Jove mundus adest, jura Jovis sequere.' 
' Saturn is gone, his ordinances too, are gone ; the world is now under 
the sway of Jove ; obey the precepts of Jove.' 

92 To be lawful.'] — Ver. 134. She cites the fact of Jupiter having been 
united to his sister Juno, as a precedent for universal lawlessness in all 
matters connected with passion. 

93 By a firm tie.] — Ver. 1 35. Her meaning is, that nearness of relation- 
ship and all other considerations ought to prove no obstacle in matters 
connected with love. This she urges, that she may remove all reluctance, 
on the part of Hippolytus, to a daring and incestuous encroachment on 
his father's honour. 



EP. IT.] PH^DKA TO HIPPOLTTUS. 39 

to my step-son. No husband's door will have to be opened 
by thee in the dark, no keeper to be deceived. 94 As one 
house has contained us both, so one house will still contain 
us ; caresses openly didst thou give ; caresses openly wilt 
thou give. Safe wilt thou be with me, and by thy cri- 
minality thou wilt earn approbation ; even if thou shouldst 
be seen in my bed. Only, banish delay, and haste to unite our 
ties: then may the Love which now rages within me, prove 
more merciful to thee. I do not disdain to entreat as a sup- 
pliant and with humility. Alas ! where are my pride and my 
lofty expressions now lying prostrate ? And long had I deter- 
mined to struggle, and not to yield to criminality : if Love could 
have admitted of any resolution. Vanquished, I entreat thee, 
and to thy knees do I extend my royal arms : no one in love 
considers what is becoming. I am past shame, and modesty, 
flying, has deserted its standards. Grant pardon to me con- 
fessing it, and subdue thy obdurate feelings. 

What avails it me that Minos, who owns the seas, 95 is my 
sire ? And that the quivering lightnings proceed from the 
hand of my great grandsire? 36 That he too is my grandsire, 
having his forehead crowned with pointed rays, who in his 
purple chariot brings in the warm day ? Under Love does 

94 Keeper to be deceived.'] — Ver. 142. Among the Greeks and Romans, 
in the houses of opulent persons, a porter or door-keeper (who was called 
'janitor,' or ' custos,' by the Romans, and Ovpupbg, by the Greeks), was 
always in attendance to open the door, and to ensure safety against the 
inroads of improper characters. He was generally a eunuch, or a slave, 
aud was frequently chained to the spot. To assist him in keeping watch 
at the entrance, a dog was generally kept near it, which was also attached 
by a chain to the wall. Sometimes near the door was written evXajSov 
rbv Kvva, or ' cave canem,' ' beware of the dog :' and, as we find in the 
house of the tragic Poet, at Pompeii, the figure of a dog was wrought in 
mosaic on the pavement, or painted upon the wall. Sometimes, instead 
of this, the walls or pavements were inscribed with the courteous salutation 
SALVE, or XAIPE, ' hail,' or ' welcome.' Immediately adjoining the 
front door, there was, in some houses, a small room for the porter. 

95 Who owns the seas.~] — Ver. 157. The power of Minos, king of 
Crete, over the neighbouring seas, especially when he had conquered the 
Athenians, was almost supreme. 

96 My great grandsire.'] — Ver. 158. Jupiter was the grandfather of 
Phaedra by the father's side, he being the father of Minos. But by the 
mother's side he was her great-grandfather ; she being the daughter of 
Pasiphae, who was the daughter of the Sun, and the grand-daughter of 
Jupiter. 



40 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEEOItfES. [EP. IT. 

noble descent lie prostrate; have compassion on my ancestors; 
and if thou dost not wish to spare me, spare my house. 
Crete, the island of Jove, is my land in dower ; 97 let the 
whole of that court obey my own Hippolytus. Conquer thy 
stubborn feelings. My mother could move even a bull ; 
wilt thou thyself be more cruel than a savage bull ? 98 

Spare me, I entreat, by Venus, who is all-powerful with 
me ; then mayst thou never love one who may despise thee. 
Then may the active Goddess attend thee in the remote 
forests, and may the lofty woods afford thee the wild beasts for 
slaughter. Then may the Satyrs protect thee, and the Pans, 
the mountain Deities ; and may the wild boar fall pierced by 
the hostile spears. Then may the Nymphs (although thou 
art said to hate the fair), grant thee the stream to allay thy 
parching thirst. Tears as well do I add to these entreaties ; 
the words of one entreating thou dost peruse, but imagine" 
that thou dost see her tears as vjell. 

97 My land in dower. ,] — Ver. 163. If we take these words in their lite- 
ral sense, we must suppose that the Isle of Crete formed the dowry of 
Phaedra, which we do not learn from any of the ancient writers to have been 
the fact ; nor, indeed, could it have been, since Deucalion succeeded Minos, 
and his brother Catreus him, who was followed by Idomeneus, the son of 
Deucalion. We must then come to the conclusion, either that the Poet 
in this instance does not pay due attention to the historical facts of ancient 
times, or else that he intentionally represents Phaedra as ready, in her un- 
principled attempts to gain Hippolytus, to make any promises, and, in fact, 
to say anything that may possibly conduce to the promotion of her infa- 
mous design. 

98 A savage bull.'} — Ver. 166. Burmann is of opinion that this and the 
three preceding lines are not genuine, and that they have been inserted by 
some writer of a later age than that of Ovid. 

99 But imagine.] — Ver. 176. This last appeal is ingeniously added, and 
carries in it more strength than all her former arguments together : for 
nothing affects the mind more forcibly than what is suggested by the 
fancy. It was in vain, however, that Phaedra used so many artifices to 
corrupt the chastity of Hippolytus ; as he resolutely withstood all her at- 
tempts, and continued inflexibly virtuous. Her love was at length changed 
into hatred, and, burning with a desire for revenge, she accused him to 
Theseus of having offered violence to her person. On this, finding that 
his father was inclined to believe her assertions, he took flight, and was 
proceeding to the court of his grandfather Pittheus, when the horses of 
his chariot took fright at the appearance of certain sea-monsters sent by 
Neptune, and his chariot was dashed to pieces, and himself slain. He was 
afterwards, at the entreaty of Diana, restored to life by iEsculapius, and 
was said to have been transferred, under the name of Virbius, to the 



EP. V.] (EXONE TO PAEIS. 41 



EPISTLE V. 

CENONE TO PARIS. 

When Hecuba, the daughter of Cisseus and the wife of Priam, was preg- 
nant with Paris, she dreamed that she was delivered of a burning torch, 
which set all Troy in flames. Terrified at the presage, Priam applied 
to the oracle ; and being told that he would have a son who would 
prove the cause of his country's ruin, he ordered that the child, as soon 
as born, should be put to death. On this, Hecuba, moved by maternal 
affection, delivered him to the royal shepherds, with orders to bring 
him up secretly. When he grew up, he became enamoured of the 
Nymph OEnoue, and, according to some accounts, he married her. The 
Deities having been invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the 
Goddess Discord alone was overlooked. Enraged atthis neglect, she waited 
for an opportunity of revenge. With this object, while Jupiter, Juno, 
Pallas, and Yenus were sitting together, she threw an apple among them, 
on which were written these words, ' Let this be given to the fairest/ 
Upon this, a dispute arose as to which of the three Goddesses was en- 
titled to the prize. Jupiter, unwilling to decide in a matter of such 
delicacy, referred them to the arbitration of Paris. He, having been 
bred up among Priam's shepherds, was then tending his flocks upon 
mount Ida. Thither the Goddesses repaired, and each endeavoured to 
influence his decision by large offers. Juno promised him a kingdom ; 
Pallas, wisdom and prudence ; and Venus, the most beautiful woman 
in the world. On this, Paris gave his judgment in favour of Venus. 
Afterwards, having been acknowledged by Priam, and having been 
sent to Menelaiis, king of Sparta, he was received by him in a most 
hospitable manner. Being captivated by the beauty of Helen, the wife 
of Menelaiis, and having gained her by his solicitations, he carried her 
off, while Menelaiis was absent in Crete. This circumstance gave rise 
to the Trojan war. In the present Epistle, CEnone reproaches Paris with 
his perfidy, and entreats him to restore Helen to the Greeks. 

A Ny^iph 1 sends to her Paris (although to be mine thou 
dost refuse) her words, from the heights of Ida, to be read by 
him. 

Dost thou read this through ? or does thy new wife hinder 
thee 1 Read it through. This letter is not written by the hand 

Arician grove near Rome. His story is related at length in the Fifteenth 
Book of the Metamorphoses. 

1 A Nymph.'] — Ver. 1. This and the next line are wanting in most 
of the MSS. ; and being inferior to the general style of Ovid's writing, 
they are perhaps justly considered spurious. The lines are — 
' Nympha suo Paridi (quamvis meus esse recuses) 
Mittit ab Iuseis verba legenda jugis.' 



42 THE EPISTLES OE THE HETtOINES. [EP. V. 

of him of Mycenae. 2 I, (Enone, 3 a Nymph of the streams, 
well known in the Phrygian groves, injured, complain of thee, 
who art mine, if thou thyself dost permit it. What Deity has 
opposed his authority to my wishes ? What crime is it that 
precludes me from remaining thine? Whatever you suffer 
deservedly, should be borne with patience : the penalty that 
comes upon us undeservedly, comes as a ground for complaint. 
Not yet so great wast thou, when I, a Nymph, sprung from a 
great river, was content with thee for a husband. Thou, 
who art now a son of Priam (let respect be paid to truth), 
wast then but a slave : 4 I, a Nymph, condescended to wed a 
slave. Many a time, shaded by the trees have we rested among 
the flocks : and the grass mixed with the leaves has afforded us 
a couch. Often, in our lowly cottage, as we lay upon the straw 
and the piled hay, has the white hoar frost been kept off from us. 
Who pointed out to thee the thickets suited for the chase, 
and beneath what rock the wild beast concealed her whelps ? 
Oft, as thy companion, have I spread the nets variegated with 
the meshes ; 5 oft have I cheered the speeding hounds over the 
long mountain ranges. The beech trees, cut by thee, still 
preserve my name : 6 and marked by thy pruning knife, I, 

2 Him of My cents.] — Ver. 2. That is, 'by the hand of your injured 
enemy from Mycenae,' in Peloponnesus, which was the country of Mene- 
laiis and Agamemnon. 

3 (Enone.] — Ver. 3. She was the daughter of the river Cebren, or 
Cebrenus, according to Apollodorus, or, as other writers say, of the river 
Xanthus ; both of which were streams of the Troad. Being a Naiad, she is 
here called * Pegasis :' those Nymphs being styled by the Greeks ' Pega- 
sides,' or ' fountain Nymphs.' The Muses had the same name from their 
favourite retreat near the fountain of Helicon. It is thought by some, 
that (Enone is especially styled ' Pegasis,' to distinguish her from another 
person of that name, from whom the island of iEgina received the name 
of (Enone. Micyllus, however, would read here instead of Pegasis, ' Pe- 
dasis,' signifying that she was an inhabitant of Pedasus, a town which was 
situate at the foot of Mount Ida. 

4 Wast but a slave.~\ — Ver. 12. That is, before the secret of his noble 
birth was discovered. 

5 Variegated with the meshes. .] — Ver. 19. 'MacuhV is here said, by 
many of the Commentators, to signify ' knots ' in the formation of the 
net : but it is much probable that it means the meshes themselves. 

6 Preserve my name.'] — Ver. 21. Paris and (Enone are here repre- 
sented as having led a pastoral life together, and as having participated to- 
gether in the diversions and pleasures of the country. No state of life could 
have afforded her finer or more affecting images of the past. Here we 
meet with undisguised nature, and passion without art. (Enone reminds 



EP. V.] (EUTOKE TO PARIS. 43 

.XEnone, am read of as thine ; and as the trunks increase, so 
does my name grow on ; grow on, then, and rise upward in my 
praise. There is a poplar 7 (I remember it) planted on the 
banks of the river, on which there is an inscription carved, 8 a 
memorial of ourselves. Flourish, thou poplar, I pray, which, 
planted on the margin of the banks, hast these lines inscribed 
on thy rough bark : " When Paris shall be able to exist, his 
GEnone deserted, the waters of Xanthus turning back shall 
flow towards their source." 9 ^ 

Xanthus, hasten back ; ye streams, return to your source : 
Paris dares to desert his GEnone; That day pronounced the 
doom of wretched me ; on that day commenced the direful 
storm of his estranged affection, on which, Venus and Juno, 
and the naked Minerva, (more becoming 10 in her armour when 
assumed) came for thy arbitration. My smitten bosom throb- 
bed, and, as thou didst tell me, a cold shudder ran through my 
firm bones. I consulted (for, indeed, in no moderate degree 

Paris of those once pleasing scenes when they were sharers in the same 
delights : when he indulged his poetic vein in her praise, and was in the 
habit of carving her name on the bark of the trees. If a remembrance 
of these soft moments cannot recall his wandering affection, she must des- 
pair of success in any other way. 

7 There is a poplar.] — Ver. 25. The ancients were much in the habit 
of planting poplars on the banks of rivers ; and Virgil, in his Seventh 
Eclogue, 1. 66, remarks that that tree delights in a moist situation. 
Poplars were very numerous in the region round Troy, which was ren- 
dered swampy by the many rills that ran from Mount Ida. 

8 An inscription carved.] — Ver. 26. It was, and certainly is still, the 
custom of the youths to cut the names of their sweethearts on the bark 
of the trees. Though trivial in itself, there is something affecting in her 
thus reminding him of it, since it cannot fail to bring more vividly to his 
recollection the delightful moments which they had once spent together. 
Indeed, the whole of this Epistle is exceedingly simple and pathetic ; and 
the attentive reader must of necessity feel himself deeply interested for the 
injured (Enone. 

9 Flow toiyards their source.] — Ver, 30. The words civw TroTajiwv, signi- 
fying ' upwards to the river's source,' were used by the Greeks and Romans 
as a proverb, signifying an impossibility. They form the commencement of 
an Iambic line in the ' Medea ' of Euripides, "Avco 7rora/j,u>v x w 9°^ ai 
irayai, ' the streams flow upwards towards their sources.' Cicero uses 
this proverb in one of his Epistles to Atticus. Of course it applies to 
rivers flowing down a declivity, and having no tides. 

10 More becoming.] — Ver. 35. This is apparently a hint at the want 
of modesty exhibited on this occasion by the Goddess of wisdom and 
of arms. 



44 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEUOIKES. [EP. y. 

was I alarmed) both old women and aged men ; it was agreed 
that there was mischief hatching. 

Fir-trees were hewn down, and beams were cut, and the 
fleet being built, the azure waves received the pitched ships. 11 
When departing, thou didst weep ; at least, forbear to deny that ; 
this present passion is more deserving of shame than thy for- 
mer one. Thou both didst weep, and didst see my eyes as I 
wept : each of us in sorrow mingled our tears. Not so firmly 
is the elm clasped by the embracing vines, 12 as thy arms were 
entwined around my neck. How often, alas ! did thy attend- 
ants smile, 13 when thou didst complain of being detained by 
the wind ! for it was favourable. How often didst thou give 
me the repeated kiss when parting ! With what difficulty was 
thy tongue able to utter ' Farewell !' A propitious breeze 
arouses the canvass as it hangs from the erect mast ; and 
ploughed up by the oars, the water is white. Hapless, with 
my eyes, did I pursue the departing sails, so long as I could ; 
and the sand was moistened with my tears. I entreated, too, 
the azure Nereids that thou mightst speedily return ; that, to 
my misfortune, forsooth, thou mightst speedily return. And 
hast thou then, 14 thou, who shouldst have returned at my en- 
treaties, returned for another ? Ah me ! for a remorseless rival 
have I used my endearments ! 

A rock, formed by nature, looks down on the boundless 
deep ; it was a mountain once ; it opposes itself to the waves 
of the ocean. While I awaited thee, at the summit of the prow 
there shone, conspicuous to me, a purple dress : 15 I was struck 

11 The pitched ships.'] — Ver. 42. It is supposed that the ships of the 
ancients were coated with a composition of wax and pitch. The ships of 
Paris, like those in which iEneas afterwards sailed, were made from 
trees which were cut down on Mount Ida. 

12 The embracing vines.'] — Ver. 47. It has been already observed, in 
the Notes to the fourteenth Book of the Metamorphoses, L 663, that the 
elm was especially used by the ancients for the purpose of forming a sup- 
port for the vine. 

13 Thy attendants smile.} — Ver. 50. At the idleness of your excuses ; 
as they know that you were detained by love, and not by the winds being 
unfavourable. 

14 And hast thou then.] — Ver. 59. Heinsius, in his Commentary on 
the Tristia, Book i. El. i. 1. 86, says that Ovid never makes short the last 
syllable of ' ergo.' Here is an illustration to the contrary — 

' Votis ergo meis alii rediture redisti ?' 

15 A purple dress] — Ver. 65. The purple would show the distin- 



EP. Y.] (EJ^OKE TO PAEIS. 45 

with alarm : that dress was not thine. It came nearer ; and, 
urged by a favouring breeze, the bark reached the shore ; with 
palpitating heart I saw the features of a female. And that 
was not enough ; and why, in my madness, did I hesitate ? — thy 
shameless mistress was clinging to thy bosom. Then, indeed, 
did I rend my garments and beat my breast, and with my 
sharp nails I tore my moistened cheeks ; I filled, too, the sacred 
Ida with my shrieks of despair ; thence did I convey those 
tears 16 to my rocky cave. So may Helen grieve, and so, de- 
serted by her spouse, may she mourn ; and may she herself 
endure that which she was the first to inflict on me. 

Now are women pleasing to thee, 17 who accompany thee 
over the open sea, and desert their lawful ties. But when 
thou wast a poor man, and, as a shepherd, wast driving the 
flocks, no one but (Enone was the wife of the poor man. I 
admire not thy wealth, nor does thy palace attract me ; nor 
that I should be called one daughter-in-law of Priam out of 
so many. And yet, not that Priam ls should refuse to be the 
father-in-law of a Nymph, or that I should be a daughter-in- 
law to be denied by Hecuba. I both am worthy, and I wish 
to become the consort of a powerful man ; I have hands which 

guished rank of the person wearing it, it being the most expensive of all 
dyes. 

16 Convey those tears."] — Ver. 74. Ovid is wonderfully skilful in 
describing the softer passions : he always paints according to life and 
nature. In the first transports of grief, we open ourselves to all whom 
we meet, and fondly imagine that they must be ready to take part in our 
sorrows. Afterwards, on finding little relief, we retire to woods and 
deserts, and feel a melancholy pleasure in gloom and solitude. 

17 Pleasing to thee.~\ — Ver. 77. The meaning of ' nunc tibi conveniunt' 
is either ' are attending thee,' or ' are pleasing to thee.' The latter seems 
to be the real meaning of the passage. The plural is used contemptu- 
ously, as much as to say that Helen is not singular for either her beauty 
or her affection, and that a thousand other women are ready to do the 
same as she has done. She means also to reproach Paris for his levity 
and his fondness for vain titles and a pretended affection that assumes to 
be ready to follow him through all dangers. 

18 Not that Priam.'] — Ver. 83. The use of the particle ' ut ' is very 
emphatic, and cannot well be estimated by the English reader without a 
paraphrase. The meaning is, ' Though I look with indifference on your 
rank and title, there is no reason that Priam should refuse me for his 
daughter-in-law ; for I am one of the Nymphs.' This she adds, that he 
may not impute her contempt of dignities and splendour to rustic igno- 
rance. 



46 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. T« 

a sceptre might grace ; and despise me not, because, together 
with thee, I used to lie on the leaves of the beech ; I am 
more suited to a purple couch. 19 In fine, my affection is 
safe to thee : no wars are in preparation, nor do the waves 
bring the avenging ships. 

The fugitive daughter of Tyndarus is demanded back by 
hostile arms ; with this for a dowry does she haughtily ascend 
thy couch. Whether she ought to be restored to the Greeks, 
ask either thy brother Hector, or Polydamas, 20 together with 
De'iphobus. 21 Ask what sage Antenor, 22 and what Priam him- 
self thinks ; men, whose long life has proved an instruc- 

19 A purple couch.'] — Ver. 88. The ' tori/ or beds of the ancients, 
were in early times made of straw, hay, leaves, or seaweed. They were 
afterwards stuffed with wool and feathers, and sometimes with swans' down, 
so as to be as much raised, and as soft as possible. They were sometimes 
covered with hides, but more commonly with sheets and blankets, which 
were called ' pallia,' or ' toralia.' The ' torus,' which answers to our bed or 
mattress in its position, rested upon girths or strings, which connected the 
two horizontal side-posts of the bed. Over the bed were spread coverlets, 
which, among the wealthy, were of purple colour (as mentioned in the 
present instance), and were adorned with interwoven and embroidered 
figures. Martial, B. ii. Ep. 16, ridicules the vanity of Zoi'lus, who pre- 
tended to be ill, that he might show his visitors the ' coccina stragula,' or 
' purple coverlet,' on his bed, which he had lately received from Alexan- 
dria. The bedsteads of the ancients, for sleeping on, were higher than 
the ' lecti tricliniares,' or couches which were used for reclining on at meals, 
and were ascended by means of a ' scamnum,' or '■ footstool.' They were 
made of various metals or of costly wood, and were inlaid with tortoise- 
shell and ivory, while the feet were sometimes of ivory, and gold or silver. 
Besides the ' torus,' ' bed ' or ' mattress,' there was the ' culcita,' which 
answered the same purpose as our bolster. 

20 Polydamas/] — Ver. 94. Polydamas was a Trojan who bore a con- 
siderable rank in the court of Priam. 

21 With De'iphobus.] — Ver. 94. De'iphobus was one of the sons of 
Priam, and was remarkable for his strength. Still he was unequal to Paris 
in a contest that took place between them, while the latter was the ser- 
vant of one of the royal shepherds, and was not known to be the son of 
Priam. Upon the death of his brother Paris, he married Helen, who 
betrayed him and delivered him to the Greeks. 

22 Sage Antenor.] — Ver. 95. Antenor was a noble of the court of 
Priam, to whom he was related, and who, together with Priam, disap- 
proved of the conduct of Paris, and advised that Helen should be restored 
to her injured husband, and that an end should be thereby put to the war. 
After the fall of Troy he was suffered by the Greeks to depart with a 
colony of his countrymen, whom he conducted into Italy, and settled 
there. 



EP. Y.] (ENOKE TO PAEIS. 47 

tion to them. 'Tis a scandalous beginning, to prefer a woman 
carried off, to thy country ; thy cause is a disgraceful one ; 
her husband is waging a righteous war. And do not, if thou 
art wise, promise thyself that this Laconian woman 23 will prove 
faithful, who has so readily betaken herself into thy embraces. 
As the younger son of Atreus is now exclaiming at the violation 
o/'the ties of his dishonoured bed, and, injured by the intrigues 
of a foreigner, is grieving, so wilt thou too be exclaiming. 

Chastity, once sullied, can by no skill be recovered ; for ever 
it is lost. She now burns with love for thee ; thus, too, did 
she love Menelaiis : easy of belief, he is now lying in a de- 
serted bed. Happy Andromache, 24 married happily to a con- 
stant husband ! After the example of thy brother, I should 
have been kept as thy wife. Thou art more fickle than the 
leaves, at the time when, made dry by the inconstant winds, 
"without the weight of moisture, they are flying about ; and 
there is less firmness in thee than in the tops of the wheat, 
which, parched by the constant sunshine, stand stiff in their 
lightness. 

This (for I recollect it) did thy sister once prophesy. 25 Thus 
did she foretell to me with her dishevelled locks. "What 
art thou doing, (Enone 1 Why art thou committing the seed to 
the sand ? Thou art ploughing the sea-shore with oxen to no 
purpose. The Grecian heifer 26 is coming, to ruin thee, and thy 

23 Laconian woman.'] — Ver. 99. Helen is called ' Lacsena,' because her 
husband Menelaiis reigned over Laconia ; l Lacaena ' being the feminine 
of Lacon, ' an inhabitant' or ' a native of Laconia.' 

24 Andromache.'] — Ver. 107. Andromache was the daughter of Eetion, 
and the wife of Hector. (Enone here refers to Hector and Andromache, as 
an illustration of true conjugal happiness. She considers that her own 
affection has merited an equal return, and therefore mentions Hector as an 
example that deserves imitation. 

25 Sister once prophesy.] — Ver. 1 13. She alludes to Cassandra, the sister 
of Paris and Hector, whom Apollo loved ; and, upon whom, when she had 
promised to yield to his desires, he conferred the gift of prophecy. On find- 
ing himself afterwards deluded, being unable to recall that which he had 
once granted, he rendered the gift ineffectual, by adding this to it, that no 
credit should ever be given to any of her prophecies. (Enone now reflects 
upon that fatality, by means of which she was so far blinded, as not to 
hearken to the predictions of Cassandra, which now, alas ! turn out to 
have been too well founded. 

26 The Grecian heifer.] — Ver. 1 18. She probably calls Helen by this 
name on account of her unchaste conduct. Some writers, however, sup- 
pose that the epithet is merely used in the prophecy for, the purpose of 



48 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. V. 

country, and thy home ; 0, avert it. The Grecian heifer is 
coming. While it may be done, ye Gods, overwhelm the foul 
bark in the deep : alas ! how is it freighted with Phrygian 
blood.'' Thus she said : the female servants bore her off 27 
while still inspired ; but my yellow locks stood on end. Alas ! 
too true a prophet hast thou proved for wretched me ! Lo 
that heifer is in possession of my pastures ! Although she is 
beauteous in person, yet she is an adulteress beyond a doubt 
captivated by her guest, she has deserted her country's Gods. 
Theseus, (unless I am mistaken 28 in the name) one Theseus, I 
know not who, before this, carried her off from her country. 
Let her, forsooth, be supposed to have been restored a vir- 
gin, by a youth, 29 and that an amorous one. 30 

Do you ask whence I learned this so accurately ? I am in 

rendering her meaning the more obscure, without reference to the cha- 
racter of Helen. 

27 Bore her off.] — Ver. 121. Cassandra was carried off before she had 
finished her prediction, as some say, by command of her father Priam 
but more probably by her own attendants, lest her life should be endan- 
gered by the violence of her agitation. Lycophron indeed says, that 
Priam gave a general order to the attendants of Cassandra to shut her up 
in her chamber, whenever she began to utter her prophecies, as he sup- 
posed her to be deranged. 

28 Unless I am mistaken ] — Ver. 127. The Poet does not wish to re- 
present a damsel whom he has depicted as chaste and innocent, as 
being too-well skilled in the history of past events, and especially in that 
of so worthless a character as Helen. Although, however, she speaks with 
such diffidence, she proves to be right as to the fact ; for we are told by 
Hyginus and Apollodorus, that Helen was carried off, when very young, 
by Theseus,who afterwards restored her, intact, to her brothers Castor and 
Pollux. 

29 By a youth.] — Ver. 129. Varro tells us that the age of ' juventus,' or 
' youthfulness,' lasted up to the end of the forty-fifth year. If such is the 
fact, Ovid may have some little excuse for here calling Theseus ' juvenis,' 
as he was not far off his fiftieth year when he carried Helen off. 

30 An amorous one. ] — Ver. 129. (Enone hopes, by throwing discredit 
on her rival by her inuendos, to recommend herself in the eyes of Paris. 
The more faithless Helen has proved throughout her past life, the less 
confidence can now be placed in her, and the more ought she herself to 
be valued, who has proved constant. She insinuates that this is not 
the first time that she has suffered herself to be seduced ; and that one 
who has since so misconducted herself, must have been a consenting party. 
She then surmises, that, whatever may have been asserted to the contrary, 
it is very unlikely that one, of the disposition of Theseus, would restore 
untouched an object so attractive as Helen. 



EP. V.] (ETTOKE TO PAEIS. 49 

love. 31 Though thou shouldst call it violence, and disguise 
her faultiness by its name, she, who has been so often car-, 
ried off, has allowed herself to be carried off. But (Enone 
continues faithful to a deceiving spouse ; and, still, thou thy- 
self mightst have been deceived, after thy own precedent. 
The nimble Satyrs, 33 (I concealed myself in the woods 33 ) a 
wanton crew, sought me with hasty feet ; Faunus, too, having 
his horned head wreathed with sharp pine-leaves, where Ida 
swells with its boundless ridges. The builder of Troy, so 
famed for his lyre, loved me ; he gathered the spoil of my 
virginity. And yet, that against my struggling ; still, with my 
nails I tore his locks, and his face was made rough with my 
fingers. I asked for neither gems nor gold as the price of 
my ravishment : presents disgracefully purchase the body 
that is free. 34 

He himself, deeming me worthy, entrusted me with the 
healing art, and admitted my hands to his own functions. 
Whatever herb is powerful for healing, and whatever root use- 
ful for a cure grows in all the world, it is my own. Unhappy 
me ! that love can be healed by no herbs ! Skilled in my art, 
by my own skill am I deserted. The inventor of the medical art 
is said himself to have fed the cows of Pherae, 35 and by a passion 

31 I am in love.] — Ver. 130. Her meaning is, that Love is very quick- 
sighted at discerning a change in the person beloved, and is ever ready to 
cause numerous enquiries relative to such persons as may probably stand 
in its way. 

32 The nimble Satyrs."] — Ver. 135. Directly she mentions the Satyrs, 
remembering that the fact of being in the company of individuals of such 
doubtful reputation might possibly not appear to redound to her credit, she 
is careful to add, that she hid herself in the woods at the time when she 
met them. 

33 In the woods.] — Ver. 135. To the perfidy and inconstancy of Helen, 
she opposes her own inviolate cbastity. Pan and the Satyrs have pursued 
her in vain. Even Apollo was unable to obtain her without a severe strug- 
gle ; for he bore the marks of her resentment. He is called ' munitor 
Trojae,' because, with Neptune, he was said to have raised the walls of 
Troy, for a reward promised to them by king Laomedon. 

34 Body that is free.] — Ver. 144. She says that it is disgraceful for a 
free-born woman to be unchaste, implying, that she leaves it to slaves (as 
only becoming their degraded position) to sell their charms for lucre. The 
Latin word ' meretrix ' is derived from ' mereo,' ' to earn money :' i. e. 
by prostitution. 

35 Cows of Pherce.] — Ver. 151. The poets in general say that Apollo 
did not betake himself to feeding the herds of Admetus, the king of 

E 



50 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEEOItfES. [EP. VI. 

for me was he wounded. Thou art able to give me an aid, 
which neither the earth, so fruitful in producing plants, can 
give, nor yet the Divinity. This thou both canst do, and I de- 
serve it ; have pity on the damsel who thus merits it. 

I am not, together with the Greeks, wielding blood-stained 
arms. But I am thine, and with thee have I been from my 
early years : and for the time that remains, do I pray to be 
thine. 



EPISTLE VI. 
HYPSIPYLE TO JASON. 

Pelias, the son of Neptune, was warned by an oracle that his death 
would be near at hand, when one barefooted should approach him 
while sacrificing. "While engaged in the celebration of certain annual 
rites, Jason, the son of iEson, having lost his shoe in the mud of the 
river Anaurus, met him, while hastening to be present at the sacrifice. 
Pelias, remembering the oracle, endeavoured to persuade Jason to un- 
dertake an expedition to Colchis, to obtain the Golden Fleece, hoping 
that he would never return, inasmuch as he had heard that it was a 
work beyond human power to accomplish. Jason, being possessed 
of great courage, readily engaged in the attempt ; and having asso- 
ciated with himself, a number of gallant adventurers, he set sail in the 
ship Argo, from Thessaly, and soon after arrived in the Isle of Lemnos. 
Not long before this period, the women of Lemnos had murdered, in 
one night, all the men on the island, with the exception of Hypsipyle, 
the daughter of Thoas, who had saved her father, under the pretence of 
•having slain him, and who at this time was reigning in Lemnos. Con- 



Pheraj, in Thessaly, through love, as (Enone seems here to hint, but 
because he was flying from the wrath of Jupiter, whom he had offended, 
by slaying the Cyclops, the founders of his thunderbolts. Callima- 
chus, however, assigns a similar reason for the retirement of Apollo, and 
his entering the service of Admetus, to that here given by Ovid ; in- 
asmuch as he says that he was prompted by his love for Alcestis, the 
daughter of Pallas, to that step. The poet Quintus Calaber relates, that when 
Paris had been wounded with an arrow by Philoctetes, he betook himself 
to (Enone, and confiding in her medical skill, entreated her to cure his 
wound. This she refused to do, and, on his return, he died on Mount Ida. 
The shepherds having placed the body on the funeral pile, (Enone, who 
was present at the ceremonial, leaped amid the flames, and was con- 
sumed together with the body. Dictys the Cretan varies the narrative, 
by saying that the body of Paris was carried to (Enone, to receive from 
her the rites of sepulture, and that she, recollecting her former passion, 
fell dead on beholding the corpse. 



EP. VI.] 3YPSIPTLE TO JASOtf. 51 

ceiving a passion for Jason, she not only proffered him the greatest 
hospitality, but even admitted him to her bed. After remaining two 
years in Lemnos, his companions urged him to proceed on the intended 
expedition ; on which he set sail for Colchis, leaving Hypsipyle preg- 
nant. Medea, the daughter of ^Eetes, king of Colchis, having be- 
come enamoured of him, by her magic arts she lulled asleep the watch- 
ful dragon, and the bulls with brazen feet, and by her aid, he obtained 
the Golden Fleece ; then, leaving Colchis, he carried off Medea, who 
readily accompanied him. Hypsipyle, enraged that Medea has been pre- 
ferred to her, sends this Epistle to Jason, congratulating him on his safe 
return. Then, exposing the cruelty and enchantments of Medea, she 
endeavours to bring her into contempt, and to make him sensible of her 
own superior deserts. She concludes by loading both Jason and Me- 
dea with imprecations. 

Hypsipyle of Lemnos, 36 the descendant of Bacchus, com- 
munes with the son of iEson ; but in her words how small 
a portion is there of her feelings. 

Thou art reported to have touched the shores of Thessaly 
with thy returning bark, enriched by the fleece 37 of the golden 
sheep. I congratulate thee on thy safety, so far as 38 thou dost 
permit : still, of that same thing ought I to have been informed 
by thy own writing. For thou mayst not have had propitious 
winds, so as not to return past my realms, as thou didst 
promise, even hadst thou desired it. Still, though the wind 
is ever so contrary, a letter might 39 be written ; I, Hypsipyle, 
was worthy of a salutation being sent. 

Why did report come to me, before a letter as thy mes- 
senger, how that the bulls, sacred to Mars, 40 had come be- 

36 Hypsipyle of Lemnos.'] — Ver. 1. The two commencing lines— 

Lemnia Hypsipyle, Bacchi genus iEsone nato 
Dicit ; at in verbis pars quota mentis erat. 
are generally considered to be spurious. 

37 By the fleece.]-^ ex. 2. The recovery, by Jason, of the Golden 
Fleece, is narrated at length in the Seventh Book of the Metamorphoses. 

3 * So far as.]— Ver. 3. Because she had heard how Jason had pre- 
ferred Medea to" herself : and therefore she had reason to fear that her 
congratulation might not be very cordially received. 

39 A letter might.']— -V er. 7. Some critics, with too refined acumen, as 
it would seem, remark that the third person is here used designedly, and 
that the Poet makes Hypsipyle, from indignation, avoid mentioning 
the very name of Jason. Certainly, in one of the scenes of Terence, 
Sostrata chides a person, though present, in the third person ; but here 
the use of that person seems entirely accidental. 

40 Bulls sacred to Mars.}— Ver. 10. These bulls, which were sacred 
to Mars, had brazen feet, and breathed forth smoke and flames. Jason 

E 2 



52 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. VI. 

neath the bending yoke ? How that the harvest of men had 
sprung up when the grain was sown, 41 and how that they did 
not need 42 thy right hand for their destruction ? How that 
the wakeful dragon 43 had watched the spoil of the ram, and 
yet that the yellow fleece had been carried off by thy vigo- 
rous arm ? If I could have been enabled to say to those 
who believed these things with hesitation — " He himself has 
written to me to this effect ?" how glad should I have been ! 
Why do I complain that the respect of my delaying husband 
towards me has failed ? If I am still thine, I receive the 
height of devotion. 

A barbarian sorceress 44 is said to have come with thee, re- 
ceived to a share of that bed which was promised to me. Love 
is a credulous thing ; I wish that I may be pronounced rash 
in accusing my husband on a false charge ! A Thessalian 
guest lately came to me from the Hsemonian shores ; and 
scarcely was the threshold well reached ; " How fares my 
Jason, the son of iEson V said I. With shame he stood 
silent, fixing his looks upon the ground beneath him : at once, 
I sprang forward ; and tearing my garments from my breast, 
I exclaimed : — " Does he still live ? or do the Fates summon 
me away as well ?" " He does live," said he : and, in his 
confusion, I compelled him to swear to me. Hardly, when a 
God attested, 45 was I convinced of thy existence. 

was instructed by Medea how to tame them ; without which step, the 
Golden Fleece, the object of his voyage, could not be obtained. 

41 Grain was sown.'] — Ver. 11. She alludes to the teeth of the 
dragon, which Jason, having killed that monster, was next obliged to 
sow, and from which sprang up armed men. 

42 They did not need.] — Ver. 12. Jason, by the advice of Medea, 
throwing stones among them, they turned their arms against, and slew 
each other. Apollodorus, however, informs us, that falling into dissen- 
sions among themselves, they were all slain by Jason. 

43 The wakeful dragon.] — Ver. 13. Besides the brazen-footed bulls 
before mentioned, there was a dragon of enormous size, which kept watch 
over the Golden Fleece, and slept neither by day nor night. 

44 Barbarian sorceress."] — Ver. 19. She alludes to Medea, whom she 
here calls ' venefica, - ' a ' sorceress,' or ; enchantress.' Her history is re- 
lated in the Seventh Book of the Metamorphoses. Whatever served to 
pervert or disturb the mind, was, by the ancients, called ' venenum.' 

45 A God attested.] — Ver. 30. Though the stranger, by an oath, called 
the Gods to witness the truth of his asseverations, she could hardly be- 
lieve that Jason was still living. She means thereby to make him sen- 
sible of her anxiety and concern, that could hardly be satisfied as to his 
welfare without the strongest proofs. 



feP. YI.] HTPSIPTLE TO JAS02f. 53 

When my senses had returned, I began to enquire about 
thy deeds. He told me how that the bulls of Mars, with the 
brazen feet, had ploughed ; how that the teeth of the dragon 
were cast into the earth for seed, and how that men, suddenly 
produced, had wielded arms ; how that these people sprung 
from the earth, cut off in civil warfare, had filled their allot- 
ment of life, limited to one day. 46 The dragon conquered, once 
more I enquire if Jason is alive ; hope and fear by turns act 
on my belief. While he is relating each thing ; in his earn- 
estness and in the thread of his discourse he reveals the 
wounds that have been made in thy heart. 47 

Alas ! where is thy plighted faith ? Where the marriage 
tie ? And where the torches more deserving to go beneath the 
pile about to be lighted ? 48 By no stealth was I known to 
thee ; Juno was present as the presiding Divinity, and Hymen 
having his temples wreathed with garlands. But neither Juno 
nor Hymen, but sad Erinnys, besmeared with blood, bore the 
inauspicious torches before me. What had I to do with the 
Minyee ? 49 Whatwith the Tritonianbark? 50 What, pilot Tiphys, 51 
hadst thou to do with my country ? Here was no ram beau- 
teous in his golden fleece ; nor was Lemnos the court of the 

46 Limited to one day.'] — Ver. 36, Because they were cut off on the 
same day on which they had sprang to life. 

47 In thy heart.] — Ver. 40. ' Tuo ' seems a preferable reading here to 
' suo/ ' his heart.' ' Suo ' will be admissible, if we consider the stranger 
as speaking of Jason in the third person. 

43 Pile about to be lighted.'] — Ver. 42. She says that the marriage torch, 
which had been used at their nuptials, was more fitted to be used at 
funereal rites, for the purpose of lighting the pile. It was the custom for 
the nearest relative of the deceased to set fire to the pile with his face 
turned away. 

49 The Minyce.] — Ver. 47. The Argonauts are so called from the 
Minyse, a people of Iolcos, in Thessaly, who had formed part of the forces 
of Jason, in his expedition to Colchis. They were originally from Orcho- 
menus, a town of Bceotia. 

50 Tritonian bark.] — Ver. 47. The ship, Argo, is called ' Tritonis 
pinus,' from Pallas, who assisted in the building of it. Pallas is often men- 
tioned by the ancients, under the name of ' Tritonia,' from the marsh Tri- 
tonis, in Africa, near which locality she was said to have been born. 

51 Pilot Tiphys.] — Ver. 48. Tiphys was the pilot of Jason's ship. 
The Poet, by making her exclaim against things both animate and inani- 
mate, as though present, admirably expresses the disorder of her mind 
produced by the result of that expedition, so fatal to her happiness. 



54 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. TT. 

aged iEetes. 32 At first I had determined (but my unhappy- 
destiny overruled me) to expel the stranger band with a 
female hand. The Lemnian women too know but too well 
how to conquer men. 53 By troops, thus brave, were my coasts 54 
to be defended. I beheld a man in my city, and with my 
hospitality and my heart did I receive him ; here did the 
summer twice, 55 and twice the winter pass on for thee. 

It was now the third harvest ; when thou, forced to set sail, 56 
didst interrupt such words as these with thy tears : " I am 
taken away/rom thee, Hypsipyle : but (if the Fates only allow 
of my return) hence do I depart as thy husband : thy husband 
will I ever be. Still, may that pledge of ours which is concealed 

52 Aged Metes. .] — Ver. 50. iEetes, or iEeta, was the son of Phoebus 
or Apollo, and the father of Medea. He was reigning in Colchis, when 
Jason went thither in quest of the Golden Fleece. The complaints of 
Hypsipyle here depicted, are extremely natural. When any disaster 
happens to us, we are apt to reflect upon the train of circumstances that 
contributed to it, and to murmur at the course of events. 

53 To conquer men.'] — Ver. 53. Venus having been surprised in adultery 
with Mars, in the isle of Lemnos, the women, in sacrificing to the 
Deities, neglected her ; in consequence of which, she infected them with 
a malady that rendered them loathsome to their husbands ; who, for 
the purpose of avoiding them, went to the wars in Thrace. The fe- 
males greatly resenting this, they formed a conspiracy to destroy them 
on their return ; which design they put in execution. Hypsipyle, how- 
ever, secretly spared her father Thoas, who was carried by Bacchus to 
the island of Thoas. In the meantime, she pretended that her father was 
dead, and raised a funeral pile in her palace, as if to celebrate his obse- 
quies, placing another person upon it in his stead. 

54 Were my coasts.'] — Ver. 54. The usual reading here is ' vita,' but 
' ripa,' meaning, ' the coast,' or ' shore,' seems to be the proper reading ; 
as it has been justly observed, that the life of no one was at stake in the 
contest, but that the women of Lemnos at first opposed the landing of 
the Argonauts in their island. 

55 The summer twice.] — Ver. 56. But Valerius Flaccus gives only 
four months as the duration of the stay of Jason in the island of Lemnos. 
Ovid may possibly have, at the moment, assigned a longer visit to Jason, 
inasmuch as Hypsipyle had by him two sons, Euneus and Deiphilus, or, 
according to some writers, Thoas. If so, he forgot the circumstances that 
these sons were twins, at least, according to the testimony of Statius, in 
the Thebaid, B. v. 1. 464, and as it would seem, according to the true 
meaning of the 121st line of the present Epistle. On the other hand, 
Valerius Flaccus represents her in the Second Book of the Argonautics, 
1. 425, as pregnant of but one child. 

56 Forced to set sail.] — Ver. 57. He was pressed to depart by Her- 
cules and others of his companions. 



EP. VI.] HTPSTPTLE TO JASON. 55 

in thy pregnant womb, live on, 57 and of the same offspring 
may we both be the parents." Thus far didst thou speak ; 
and, as tears flowed down thy deceitful face, I remember that 
thou couldst not say the rest. After all thy companions 58 
didst thou embark in the sacred Argo : 59 onward it flew, 60 and 
the wind filled its swelling sails. 

The azure waves recede from before the impelled ship ; 
by thee the earth, by me the waters are beheld. A 
tower open 61 on every side looks down upon the waves : 
hither do I betake myself, and my face and my bosom 62 are 
bedewed with tears. Through my tears do I view thee ; and 
my eyes, favouring the eagerness of my feelings, see farther 
than usual. I add chaste prayers, and vows mingled with ap- 
prehensions, that even now should be performed since thou 
art safe. Shall I then fulfil those vows ? Shall Medea reap^ 
the advantage of those vows 1 My heart is sorrowing, and 
love is overflowing, mingled with rage. Shall I carry offerings 

57 Live on.~\ — Ver. 62. She promises that, in spite of the barbarous de- 
termination of the females of her island, in case she should be delivered 
of a son, he shall not be put to death. The destruction of female children 
was not uncommon in the early ages, throughout the heathen world. 

58 After all thy companions.'] — Ver. 65. If we translate ' ultimus e 
sociis ' quite literally, it is, ' The last of thy companions thou didst, &c.,' 
a form of expression not unlike the famous line of Milton, ' And fairest 
of all her daughters, Eve." Apollonius Rhodius says, that Jason was the 
first to embark. It has, however, been justly remarked that, Apollonius 
was more desirous to paint Jason as a hero and a skilful leader, than as 
an attentive lover ; on the other hand, Valerius Flaccus, though he does 
not distinctly say that Jason was the last to go on board, states that he, 
with Castor and Pollux, lingered behind in the embraces of the Lem- 
nian females. 

59 The sacred Argo.] — Ver. 65. The ship Argo is called f sacra,' be- 
cause it was built under the auspices, and by the instructions of Minerva. 
It was also built, in part, of wood, from the sacred forest of Dodona, which 
had been, cut down by the direction of Minerva. 

60 Onward it flew.] Ver. 66. In saying that the ship flew, she alludes 
to its name, which denoted its speed ; it being derived from a Greek word 
signifying swift. 

61 A tower open.] — Ver. 69. See the Metamorphoses, Book ii. 1. 393, 
and the Note to the passage. 

62 And my bosom.] — Ver. 70. The word 'sinus' may here mean 
either the folded or plaited part of the garment that covered the bosom, 
or perhaps, figuratively, the bosom itself. 

63 Shall Medea reap.] — Ver. 75. These words are prompted by a just 
indignation at her wrongs, which she here very pathetically sums up. 



56 THE EPISTLES OP THE HEROINES. [EP. VI. 

to the temples, because I lose Jason, but living still ? Must the 
smitten victim fall for my misfortunes 1 Never, indeed, was I 
free from apprehension, and I was always in fear lest my 
father should be choosing a daughter-in-law from an Argive 
city. 64 The Argive women did I dread : a barbarian rival has 
done me the injury ; from an unlooked-for enemy have I 
received my wound. 

Neither by her beauty nor by her accomplishments is she 
pleasing ; but by her incantations has she influenced thee ; and 
with her enchanted sickle does she reap the dreadful plants. 05 
She endeavours to draw down the struggling Moon from her 
chariot, and to envelope the horses of the Sun in darkness. 
She bridles the waves, and stops the winding rivers : she moves 
the woods and the firm rocks from their spot. Amid the tombs 66 

64 An Argive city.] — Ver. 80. ' Argolica urbe ' here probably means 
' from some Thessalian city,' as there was a city there called the Pelasgian 
Argos, which was the capital of a small territory. It may, however, 
possibly be intended as a term to extend to the whole of Greece. 

65 The dreadful plants.] — Ver. 84. Of the herbs used in the magic arts, 
2ome were to be plucked up by the roots, and others to be cut with a 
sickle or scythe. Regarding the latter kind, we learn from Virgil, that 
they were cut with a brazen knife by the light of the moon. 

& Amid the tombs.] — Ver. 89. The tombs appear to have been the 
favourite haunts of all the magicians and unnatural characters of olden 
time, from the enchantresses and magicians of Ovid and Apuleius, down 
to the Ghouls of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. Among the Greeks 
the corpses that were not burnt were buried in coffins, which were made 
of various materials, but usually of baked clay or earthenware. The dead 
were generally buried outside the towns, as it was thought that their presence 
in the city brought pollution on the living. At Athens the dead were 
formerly buried in their own houses, but in historical times, none were 
allowed to be buried within the city. Lycurgus, with the view of re- 
moving all superstitions relative to the dead, allowed of burial in Sparta ; 
and at Megara they were also buried within the town. Persons who 
possessed lands in Attica were often buried in them ; but the tombs were 
mostly by the side of roads, and near the gates of the city. These tombs 
were regarded as private property, and belonged exclusively to the families 
whose relatives had been buried there. Sometimes they were mounds 
of earth or stones, while they were occasionally built of stone, and were 
frequently ornamented with great taste. The Romans, in the most ancient 
times, buried their dead, although they adopted the custom of burning 
them at an early period. Those who were buried were placed in a coffin 
which was frequently made of stone, and sometimes of that from 
Assos in Troas, which consumed all the body with the exception of 
the teeth, in forty days, whence it obtained the name of ' Sarcophagus,' 






EP. VI.] HTPSIPYLE TO JASON. 57 

does she wander without her girdle, her locks all dishevelled, 
and certain bones 67 does she collect from the warm piles. 
Those afar off does she curse ; she pierces, too, the images of 



which was gradually extended to other stone coffins. The urns which 
contained the ashes of the dead were placed in sepulchres, which were 
mostly outside of, though in a few instances we read of them being 
buried within, the City. The places for burial were either public or 
private : the public were of two kinds, one for illustrious citizens, 
who were buried at the public expense, and the other for the poor. 
The former were in the Campus Martius, which was ornamented with 
the tombs of the dead, and in the Campus Esquiiinus ; while the latter 
was also in the Campus Esquiiinus, and consisted of small pits or caverns. 
Private places for burial were usually by the sides of roads leading 
into Rome, and on some of these roads, such as the Appian way, the tombs 
formed an almost uninterrupted street for many miles from the gates of 
the City. 

67 And certain bones.} — Ver. 90. Some MSS. have 'cuncta,' 'all,' instead 
of 'certa,' 'certain,' as applied to the bones, but the latter is considered to be 
the better reading, inasmuch as the sorcerers of old are said to have been 
very fanciful in their selections, preferring the skulls, and the parts about 
the joints, while they were content with scrapings or parings of some 
of the other portions. 

68 Images oftvax.~] — Ver. 91. Magic spells and incantations were very 
numerous among the ancients, who put considerable faith in their effi- 
cacy. Diana was frequently resorted to for assistance in cases of de- 
sperate love and unlawful desires, being invoked under the name of 
'Thessalis' and 'Lamia,'by witches and enchanters.in set forms, withpotent 
spells : the influence of which, it was thought, could be dispelled by the 
sound of brazen instruments. Her presence was, by these incantations, 
supposed to be compelled, and she was said to appear accompanied by 
howling dogs. Thessaly was the original, and, indeed, the most cele- 
brated seat of this superstition : thence was probably derived the use 
of herbs and their juices, and other ingredients in philtres for compel- 
ling love, appeasing or averting it. The belief in ghosts was con- 
nected with the magic art, and was very prevalent, they being sup- 
posed to haunt sepulchres, and to be under the control of incantations. 
The spirits of the departed were consequently worshipped with great 
reverence. Ovid, in the present instance, enumerates many articles of 
the magic code ; charms muttered over, herbs cut with an enchanted 
sickle, the Moon brought down, and the Sun darkened by her invocations, 
the waves and the tides stopped in their course, the woods and rocks 
moved from one locality to another ; rites, too, performed amid the 
tombs, and bones culled from the pile yet warm. He finally speaks of 
images being made of wax, and then pierced with needles, in the part 
where the liver is situate ; which latter plan was adopted for the purpose of 
torturing the person intended to be represented by the image. This be- 



58 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEKOINES. 3 [EP. VI. 

needles. Other things, too, which 'twere better I should be 
unacquainted with. Love is wrongfully acquired by herbs, 
which should be won by merit and by beauty. 

And canst thou embrace her? 69 And, left in the same 
chamber, canst thou enjoy sleep, in the silent night, without 
alarm 1 In truth, just as the bulls, 70 so has she forced thee to 
bear the yoke, and by the arts, by which she charms the raging 
serpents, does she charm thee as well. Besides, she takes plea- 
sure in being connected with the exploits of thy chieftains and 
thyself; and the wife detracts from the praises 71 of the husband. 
Some, too, of the party of Pelias 72 impute thy deeds to sorcery, 
and they have people to believe them. "'Twas not the son 

lief seems to have extended down to comparatively recent periods. 
English history presents a memorable instance in the penance inflicted on 
the unfortunate wife of Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester, who 
was accused of having practised incantations upon a waxen image of the 
Regent in the minority of Henry the Sixth. Lord Hastings and Jane Shore 
were also accused of having conspired in similar practices against Richard 
the Third. 

69 Canst thou embrace her ?] — Ver. 95. One coidd almost fancy that 
she had read what happened to Beder, when, sleeping in Queen Labe's 
chamber, he saw her stealthily arise and prepare the diabolical cake 
which was to play so important a part in his intended transformation. 
See the story of Beder and Giauhare in the Arabian Nights' Entertain- 
ments. 

70 Just as the hulls.'] — Ver. 97. The artifice and ingenuity of the Poet 
in these passages are admirable ; and truly wonderful is the skill which he 
shows in making each circumstance answer his purpose. Hypsipyle is not 
here endeavouring to gain Jason's affection, so much as to withdraw it from 
Medea. For this purpose she represents her in such a light as may cre- 
ate horror and aversion. She endeavours to excite his fears, and would 
persuade him that he cannot with safety trust himself in her company. 
Lastly, under the appearance of weakening her own arguments, she adds 
double strength to them. She insinuates that his case is desperate, and 
that he is a mere slave, and unable to shake off the yoke. Knowing 
his disposition, she trusts that, to clear himself from such an imputation, 
he will endeavour to subdue this hateful passion. 

71 From the praises."] — Ver. 100. She here persists in inveighing 
against Medea. She now endeavours to arouse his jealousy, and to work 
upon his passion for glory. ' Medea,' she says, ' boasts to have had the 
chief hand in your exploits, and carries away all the honour. The par- 
tisans of Pelias take advantage of this, and the world, in general, is too 
ready to believe them.' 

79 Party of Pelias.] — Ver. 101 . She alludes to the partisans of Pelias, 
who had dispossessed his brother, jEson, the father of Jason, of the 
throne. 



EP. VI.] HTPSIPYLE TO JASON". 59 

of iEson, say they, but the Phasian 73 daughter of iEetes that 
carried off the golden fleece of the sheep of Phryxus." 74 
Thy mother, Alcimede, 75 approves not of her ; take the advice 
of a mother ; nor yet does thy father approve of a bride who 
comes from the chilling North. 76 Let her seek for herself a 
husband from the Tanais 77 and the marshes of swampy 
Scythia, 78 and even from the regions of the Phasis. 

Fickle son of iEson, more inconstant too than the breezes of 
spring, why are thy words destitute of their promised weight ? 
Hence didst thou depart as my husband, as my husband thou 
didst not thence return : I ought to be the wife of thee return- 
ing, as I was of thee when setting out. If noble descent and 
honourable names at all influence thee, behold ! I am said to 
be the daughter of Thoas, 79 sprung from Minos. Bacchus 
was my grandsire ; so the wife of Bacchus, encircled by her 



73 The Phasian.'] — Ver. 103. Phasis was the name of a river of 
Colchis. 

74 Sheep of Phryotras.] — The Golden Ram carried Phryxus and Helle over 
the Hellespont, on which occasion the latter was drowned ; their story is 
told at length, hoth in the Fasti and in the Metamorphoses. 

75 Mother Alcimede.'] — Ver. 105. According to some, Alcimede, was 
the daughter of Clymenus, according to others, of Autolycus. Some 
call the mother of Jason by the name of Rhea or Polymela. According 
to Apollodorus, the mother of Jason hanged herself. 

76 The chilling North.] — Ver. 106. That is from Colchis, which was a 
cold climate, in comparison with Greece, as being situate much farther to the 
North. She makes this reference in a spirit of contempt and disdain, in- 
timating that he has made choice of a barbarian. She, therefore, exag- 
gerates the reflection, by telling him that he has brought a wife from the 
icy pole ; although Colchis was far enough distant from it. It may be 
here remarked, that Ovid little anticipated, when he penned these hues, 
that the time would come when he himself would have to feel, and to 
mourn amid the regions of, the ' gelidus axis,' of the Colcluan climate ; 
the coast of Pontus being situate on the opposite side of the Caspian sea. 

77 From the Tanais.] — Ver. 107. This river is now called the Don, 
and empties itself into the sea of Azof, formerly the ' Palus Maeotis.' 

78 Scythia.] — Ver. 107. Scythia was the general name for the Northern 
parts of Europe and Asia. She speaks with indignation against Medea, 
whom she represents as being a more suitable wife for a barbarian than 
for a Greek. 

79 Daughter of Thoas.]— Vet. 114. Thoas, the father of Hypsipyle, 
was the son of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos. 

*° My grandsire.] — Ver. 115. Bacchus was the father of Thoas, by 
Ariadne. 

31 By her croivn.] — Ver. 115. She here alludes to the crown of 



60 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOIKES. [EP. YI. 

Lemnos shall be thy marriage gift, 82 a land fruitful for the 
cultivator ; thou couldst take me as well among such pos- 
sessions. 

Now too have I brought forth ; Jason, congratulate us both. 
In my pregnancy the father had made the burden a pleasing 
one to me. In the number too am I blessed ; 83 and Lucina 
favouring, a twin offspring, a twofold pledge have I produced. 
Shouldst thou enquire whom they are like ; 84 by them mightst 
thou be recognized. They know not how to deceive ; the other 
features of their father do they possess. To my envoys 85 I had 
almost given them to be borne in place of their mother: but their 
cruel step-mother 86 impeded the intended journey. I dreaded 
Medea ; more cruel than any step-mother is Medea ; the hands 
of Medea are ready for every crime. She who could scatter 
the mangled limbs of her brother 87 over the fields, would she 
be merciful to these pledges of mine ? And yet, madman, 
demented by the Colchian philtres, thou art reported to have 

Ariadne, which was placed among the Constellations by Bacchus. The 
Poet admirably depicts female jealousy, in making Hypsipyle aim at secur- 
ing glory to herself from every possible incident. 

82 Marriage gift.] — Ver, 117. She could with justice say, that Lemnos 
was her dowry, inasmuch as it was the determination of the Lesbian women 
that Thoas should cease to reign there, and she had doubly earned the 
kingdom by her dutiful conduct in saving his life. 

83 Am I blessed.'] — Ver. 121. It would appear from this passage, that 
it was considered lucky to become the mother of twins. 

84 Whom they are like."] — Ver. 123. She hopes hereby to excite his 
compassion, and at the same time insinuates her own chastity and fidelity, 
while by her inuendo in the next line, she deals a severe blow at his want 
of constancy. 

85 To my envoys.] — Ver. 125. If we read, 'legates,' in this line, it 
will mean that she had some thoughts of sending her children to act as 
her envoys, by appealing to his feelings. If ' legatis ' is read, it will mean 
that she had intended to give them to some envoys, who were to act in 
the place of their mother in presenting them. 

8b Cruel stepmother.] — Ver. 126. The ancients seem to have had a 
very bad opinion of stepmothers in general, in relation to their conduct 
towards their stepchildren ; much worse, it is to be hoped, than was really 
justified by fact. 

87 Limbs of her brother.] — Ver. 129. She alludes to the story which is 
related by Ovid, in the Tristia, how Medea cut her brother Absyrtus into 
pieces, and scattered his limbs in the way, that her father iEetes, who was 
in pursuit of her, might be stopped by the necessity of gathering them 
up, w \ereby she might the more readily effect her escape. From this cir- 
cumstance, Tomi, the place to which Ovid was afterwards banished, received 
its name. 



EP. VI.] HYPSIPYLE TO JASOtf. 61 

preferred this woman to the couch of Hypsipyle. Basely did 
that adulteress associate with my husband ; the chaste nuptial 
torch gave me to thee, and thee to me. She betrayed her 
father ; ss I rescued Thoasfrom death. She deserted Colchis ; 
my own Lemnos retains me. 

What avails it, if in her wickedness she triumphs over one 
virtuous, and if by her very criminality she is dowried, and 
has so earned a husband ? S9 The crimes of the Lemnian 
dames do I censure, Jason, and not admire. Indignation 
itself 90 supplies any arms to the enraged. Come tell me, if, 
(as was thy duty) driven by adverse winds thou hadst entered, 
thou and thy companion, my harbour ; and if I had gone forth 
to meet thee, attended by my twin offspring, (the ground no 
doubt would have been implored to yawn for thee,) with what 
countenance, perjured man, wouldst thou have seen thy 
children, with what, myself ? Of what death wast thou de- 
serving, as the reward of thy perfidy ? Thou thyself, indeed, 
through me wouldst have been safe and unhurt ; not because 
thou wast worthy, but because I was indulgent. I myself 
would have sated my eyes, and thine too, which she has charmed 
by her sorceries, with the blood of my rival. To Medea I 
would have proved a Medea. 

And if, in any degree, thou Jupiter, on high, art thy- 
self propitious to my prayers, may that supplanter of my 
bed 91 feel the same sorrows for which Hypsipyle is now 

88 Betrayed her father .] — Ver. 135. Because she had assisted Jason in 
his project of carrying off the Golden Fleece. iEetes, according to one ac- 
count, was afterwards slain by Meleager in a skirmish that took place be- 
tween him and the Argonauts on the sea shore. In contrasting her own 
conduct with that of Medea, Hypsipyle omits no opportunity of disparag- 
ing her rival, and making herself appear to advantage. 

m Earned a husband.'] — Ver. 138. Medea chiefly recommended herself 
to Jason by her infamous and premeditated treachery in deserting and be- 
traying her father. This is a circumstance too favourable to the design 
of Hypsipyle to be passed over in silence. 

9u Indignation itself.] — Ver. 140. ' Dolor,' in this verse, signifies indig- 
nation or resentment at wrongs ; for the Lesbian wives had been slighted 
by their husbands, who, on going to the wars in Thrace, brought home 
with them on their return women from that country. ' Quaelibet' is 
adopted as the reading in this line. 

91 Supplanter of my bed.] — Ver. 153. The word ' succuba' has been 
suggested as the proper reading, instead of ' subnuba,' which has the same 
signification — a ' supplanter,' ' rival,' or ' concubine.' Heinsius, however, 
thinks that the word ' succuba' is hardly Latin. 



62 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. VII. 

grieving, and may she herself follow her own precedent ; 92 and 
as I am deserted, a wife and a mother of two children, may- 
she be deprived of 93 as many children, and of her husband. 
And may she not long retain what she has so disgracefully 
acquired ; and more disgracefully may she abandon them : 
may she be an exile, and may she be seeking a refuge over all 
the world. As cruel a sister as she has proved to her brother, 
as cruel a daughter to her wretched father ; so cruel may she 
prove both to her children, and to her husband. 

When she has traversed the sea, and when, the earth, let 
her attempt the air; may she wander destitute, hopeless, 
bloody in her death. These things do I, the daughter of 
Thoas, pray, wronged of my nuptial tie ; live on, both bride 
and husband, with a bed accursed. 



EPISTLE VII. 

DIDO TO ^NEAS 

After the destruction of Troy by the Greeks, iEneas, the son of Anchi- 
ses and Venus, having saved his household Gods from the flames, and 
having collected some of the vanquished Trojans, put to sea with 
twenty ships. Being overtaken by many storms, and having wan- 



92 Her own precedent.'] — Ver. 154. Her meaning is, 'As Medea has 
thought it no crime to disturb the marriage tie, and to entice away the 
husband of another, may she herself meet with the same usage.' 

9:3 She be deprived of .~\ — Ver. 156. This passage is greatly commended 
by Scaliger for its beauty. The imprecations of Hypsipyle against 
Medea were afterwards fulfilled ; for Jason, attracted by the charms 
of Creiisa, the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth, deserted Medea, 
who nmrdered the two children which she had had by him. She 
then sent a combustible composition in a cabinet, or, as some say, 
in a dress, to Creiisa, who opening it, the fire burst forth, and consumed 
her and the whole palace. According to Hyginus, Jason also perished 
in the flames. Other writers, however, assert the contrary, and say 
that he was preparing to punish and even to kill Medea for this out- 
rage, on which, she, for farther revenge, then, and not before, killed her 
children in his presence, and then fled to Athens, where she became the 
wife of the aged iEgeus, and had by him a son called Medus. At length, 
being divorced from iEgeus, she raised a storm of clouds and wind, amid 
which she was carried by her winged dragons through the ah-, with her 
son, into that part of Asia, which, from her, was afterwards called Media. 



EP. YH.] DIDO TO ^E>TEA3. 63 

dered from shore to shore, he was at last thrown upon the coast of 
Libya, where, at that time, according to the fiction of Virgil, Dido 
was reigning. This princess was the daughter of Belus, and the wife 
of Sichaeus, the priest of Hercules. Her brother, Pygmalion, king 
of Tyre, being of an avaricious disposition, and imagining that Sichaeus 
possessed great treasures, murdered him, for the purpose of gaining his 
wealth. "When Dido discovered this, she departed from Tyre, accom- 
panied by such as were disgusted with the tyrant, and landing in Africa, 
founded the city of Carthage. The city was approaching completion, 
when /Eneas is represented by the poets to have been driven upon that 
coast, and to have been most hospitably entertained by Dido. After some 
time, being admonished by Mercury, he prepared to set sail for Italy, 
the country promised to him by the Fates. Dido, who had been seized 
with a violent passion for him, having a presentiment of this, en- 
deavours, in the present Epistle, to divert him from the prosecution of 
his design, and threatens, in case of his refusal, to put an end to her 
own life. 

Descend an t t of Dardanus, 94 receive the lines of Elissa 95 about 
to die ; the words that thou dost read, thou readest as the last 
■words from me. 

Thus does the 96 white swan, as he lies on the wet grass, 
when the fates summon him, sing at the fords of Mseander. 97 
Nor do I address thee because I hope that thou canst be moved 
by my entreaties : for that, against the wall of the Deity, have 
I wished. 98 But since 1 have unfortunately lost a merited 
return, and my good name, and my chastity of body and mind, 

94 Descendant of Dardanus."] — The Latin text of these two lines is, 

Accipe, Dardanide, moriturae carmen Elissae ; 

Quae legis, a nobis ultima verba legis. 
However well they may agree with what follows, they are to be found in 
but few of the MSS., and are generally considered to be spurious. 

95 Lines of Elissa.'] — The reading is sometimes 'Elisa,' but it is more cor- 
rectly written ' Elissa.' The word is said, in the Punic language, to have 
meant ' a divine woman.' 

96 Thus does the.] — Ver. 1. The abrupt commencement of this Epis- 
tle, denoting the indignation and distress of mind of the writer, is worthy 
cf remark. 

97 Fords of Maander.) — Ver. 2. The Maeander was a river of Asia 
Minor, not far from Troy. It ran into the /Egean Sea, and was so full of 
windings, that it often seemed to be taking its course backwards. It was 
a common notion with the ancients, tbat the swan sang melodiously just 
before its death. This belief is very frequently referred to by the poets. 

ss Have I wished."] — Ver. 4. ' Vovimus' seems here to be a more ap- 
propriate reading than 'movimus,' which, however, is more generally 
adopted. Heinsius prefers ' vovimus.' 



64 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEEOINES. [EP. VII. 

'tis a trifling thing to lose a few words. Still then art thou de- 
termined to go, and to forsake the wretched Dido ; and the 
same winds will bear away thy sails, and thy promises." Thou 
art determined, iEneas, with thy ships to part with thy vows, 
and to go after Italian realms, while thou knowst not where they 
are. Neither rising Carthage, 1 nor its growing walls influence 
thee ; nor the supreme rule conceded to thy sceptre. Thou 
dost fly from a city built : thou dost seek one to be erected : 3 
the one region must be sought throughout the world, the 
other has been reached by thee. 

And yet, shouldst thou find the land, who will give it thee 
to possess ? Who will deliver up his own fields to be occupied 
by persons whom he knows not ? Another love awaits thee 
to be entertained, and another Dido, and another vow must 
be plighted for thee once again to break. When will it be that 
thou shalt found a city equal to Carthage, and aloft from thy 
citadel look down on thy multitudes ? Though all this should 
come to pass, and thy wishes should meet with no impedi- 
ment, whence will come thy wife, to love thee as I? I burn, 
as the waxen torches tipped with sulphur ; as the pious 
frankincense poured on the smoking altars. iEneas is ever 
placed before my eyes as I watch : both night and day bring 
back iEneas to my mind. He, indeed, is ungrateful and deaf 
to my deserts ; and one whom I could fain be without, were 
I not demented. 

Still, though he intends what is wrong, I do not hate iEneas : 
but I complain that he is faithless, and having complained, 
the more distractedly do I love him. Venus, show mercy to 
thy daughter-in-law, and do thou, Love, his brother, embrace 

99 Thy sails and thy promises.'] — Ver. 8. It is a common fault with 
Ovid, for the sake, either of alliteration, or of a fancied curtness of expres- 
sion, to combine phrases, which have a literal, with those which have a figur- 
ative signification, making use of the same verb. He here says, ' the winds 
will bear away thy sails and thy promises.' In the next line, he uses 
the words, ' cum fcedere solvere naves,' which literally means, ' to 
loosen his ships together with his promise': while ' solvere foedus' means, 
' to break an engagement,' and ' solvere naves' is, ' to weigh anchor,' or 
' to set sail.' 

1 Rising Carthage.'] — Ver. 11. Dido was then engaged in building her 
new city of Carthage. The word ' Carthage,' in the Punic language, sig- 
nifies ' the new city.' 

2 One to he erected.] — Ver. 13. She alludes to the city which iEneas 
supposed that he was destined by the Fates to found. 



EP. VII.] DIDO TO ^EtfEAS. 65 

thy brother ; let him fight under thy banners. Or else I will, 
who have begun 3 to love (and, indeed, I deny it not) ; only let 
him afford an object for my passion. I am deceived ; and that 
image is falsely suggested to me. He differs from the dispo- 
sition of his mother. Stones and mountains, 4 and oaks grow- 
ing on the lofty rocks, and savage wild beasts have begotten 
thee ; or else the ocean, just as thou seest it now, agitated by the 
winds ; which still thou dost prepare to pass with its hostile 
billows. Whither dost thou fly? The storm prevents thee ; 
may the favour of the storm be to my advantage. Behold 
how Eurus is raising the foaming waves. Let me owe that to 
the tempests, which I had rather owe to thee. The winds and 
the waves are more righteous than thy feelings. (Although 
thou dost deserve it, deceiver,) I am not of that value, that 
thou shouldst perish, while thou art flying from me over the 
extended main. 

Thou dost give way to a costly hatred, and of amount too 
great ; if that, so that thou avoid me, 'tis a trifling thing for 
thee to die. Soon will the winds be lulled ; and the waves, 
in their stillness, being becalmed, Triton will run amid the 
seas with his azure steeds. Would that thou, too, couldst 
be changed, together with the winds ! And unless thou dost 
exceed the oak in hardness, thou wilt be. Just as if thou wast 
ignorant of what the raging sea can do ! How rashly dost thou 
trust the waves that thou hast so oft experienced? Though, 
the deep inviting, thou shouldst even weigh thy anchor, still, 
many a danger does the wide ocean contain. It is not the in- 
terest of those who tempt the main, to violate their oath. 
That place exacts retribution for perfidy. Especially when 
Love has been injured ; because the mother of Love is said to 
have been born naked in the waves of Cythera. 5 

Lost, I am apprehensive of destroying thee, or of injuring 
thee who hast injured me ; lest my enemy, shipwrecked, may 

3 Who have begun.'] — Ver. 33. t Quae ccepi' seems to be a preferable 
reading to ' quern coepi.' 

4 Stones and mountains.'] — Ver. 37. She here addresses jEneas as 
though he were present, and with great propriety; because, in the former 
verse, she mentions the deceitful image which she had formed to herself of 
him. 

5 Waves of Cythera.] — Ver. 60. Cythera was an isle off the coast of 
Laconia, whither Venus was borne when she arose from the sea. 

F 



66 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOINES. [EP. VII. 

swallow the waves of the deep. Live on, I pray ; thus would 
I rather lose thee, than by thy death. Mayst thou rather be 
esteemed the cause of my destruction. Come, suppose that 
thou art overtaken by a fierce hurricane (let there be no 
meaning in the omen) ; what then will be thy feelings ? At 
once will recur the perjuries of thy deceiving tongue, and 
Dido, compelled by Phrygian perfidy 6 to die. The form of 
thy beguiled wife will be standing before thy eyes, disconso- 
late and bloodstained, with dishevelled locks. " Depart, what- 
ever it is, I have deserved it all," thou mayst say ; and the 
lightnings that shall fall, thou wilt think to be hurled against 
thee. 

Give a short respite for the madness of the sea and thine 
own ; a safe voyage will be the great reward of thy delaying. 
Let no regard be had for me ; let regard be had for the boy 
lulus ; 'tis enough for thee to have the credit of my death. 
What has the boy Ascanius 7 deserved ? What have the Penates, 
thy household Gods, deserved ? The waves will overwhelm 

6 Phrygian perfidy.'] — Ver. 68. Whatever is here said of the loves of 
Dido and JSneas, is altogether founded upon a fiction of Virgil, who intro- 
duces this story into his poem, for the purpose of embellishing it. Carthage, 
according to the computation of the best Chronologers, was founded only 
132 years before Rome ; and Rome was not built until 432 years after 
the destruction of Troy ; so that iEneas must have lived very long before 
the time of Dido. The poet Ennius was said to be the first who suggested 
this fabulous story, for the purpose of gratifying the vanity of the Roman 
people. Ausonius has an epigram on this subject, supposed to be spoken 
by a statue of Dido, which he has translated from the Greek. The fol- 
lowing is a literal translation of it : 'I am that Dido, whom, stranger, 
thou dost behold in me, resembling her wondrously in her beauty. Such 
was I, but not such was my mind, as Maro has depicted : nor yet was my 
life pleased with unchaste joys. For neither did Trojan ^Eneas ever behold 
me, nor did he arrive in Libya with the Ilian fleet ; but flying from the 
rage and arms of the lustful Iarbas, I preserved, I confess, my chastity 
by my death. My breast transfixed, 'twas not madness, or grief, excited 
by slighted passion, that prompted the chaste sword. 'Twas thus it 
pleased me to die. I lived without a spot to my fame ; having avenged 
my husband, having erected my walls, I went to meet him. Why, envious 
Muse, didst thou excite Maro against me, that he might invent a slur 
against my chastity ? Do you. readers, believe rather the historians about 
me, than those who sing of the stealthy loves and intrigues of the Gods. 
Untrue bards are they, who blemish the truth by their lives, and attribute 
to the Gods the frailties of men.' 

7 Ascanius. ,] — Ver. 77. Ascanius, who was also called Iiilus, was the 
son of jEneas. She asks why he and the household Gods should be borne 
over the seas at the mere caprice of iEneas ? 



EP. VII.] DIDO TO iENEAS. 67 

the Divinities rescued from the flames. But neither dost thou 
carry them with thee ; nor, what thou dost boast of, perfidious 
man, to me, have the sacred things, and thy father burdened 3 
thy shoulders. All this thou dost invent ; nor, indeed, does 
thy tongue begin to deceive with me, nor am I the first to 
suffer. If you ask 9 where is the mother of the beauteous 
lulus, she has perished, left alone by her .cruel husband. 
This didst thou 10 relate to me ; and yet it moved me not ; 
torment me thus grieving ; through my own punishment will 
thy culpability be the less. 

But my mind is not in doubt, but that thy own Divinities 
condemn thee. Over seas, over lands, the seventh winter is 
buffeting thee. Cast ashore by the waves, I received thee in 
a harbour of safety, and having hardly heard thy name, I 
offered thee my realm. Still, with these kind offices do I 
wish that I had been content ; and that the report of our in- 
tercourse had been buried in oblivion. That day proved my 
ruin, 11 on which the lowering storm, by its sudden rain, drove 

8 Thy father burdened.] — Ver. 80. Virgil gives to iEneas the especial 
epithet of ' pius,' because he rescued his father and the images of the Gods 
from the flames of Troy, and bore them upon his shoulders to a place of 
safety. Painters have adopted this story, and frequently represent iEneas 
as bending beneath the pious burden. 

9 If you ask.'] — Ver. 83. We are to consider Dido as transported by 
her resentment, and disposed to view everything in the worst light. She 
reproaches him with having abandoned his wife Creiisa, who was the 
daughter of Priam, and the mother of Ascanius. This is affirmed by 
some writers, while others go so far as to say, that he slew her with his 
own hand. Virgil gives a different account. According to him, iEneas, 
on his escape from Troy, missing his wife, whom he had directed to fol- 
low him to an appointed place, went back into the burning city in quest 
of her, and exposed himself to many dangers amid the swords of the 
enemy, but in vain : the Fates had decreed their separation, and destined 
for .ZEneas another country, and another wife. 

10 This didst thou.] — Ver. 85. The readings of this and the following 
lines are very corrupt, and the meaning of the whole passage is extremely 
obscure. It seems, however, to be this : ' You yourself had told me 
how perfidiously you had abandoned your wife; from which I ought to 
have formed a more correct estimate of your disposition ; but this, alas ! 
had no effect on me, and, on the contrary, I pitied you, and received you 
with hospitality, and even loved you. I deserve, then, to be still slighted 
by you ; and the greater my blame in that respect, the less is the punish- 
ment which you deserve.' 

11 Proved my ruin.] — Ver. 93. The Poet here alludes to what is re- 

f2 



68 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEKOI^ES. [EP. VII. 

us into the arched cave, I heard a noise ; I thought the 
mountain Nymphs made the outcry ; 12 the Furies gave the 
signal for my doom. Offended Chastity, thus violated, exact 
satisfaction for Sichseus, to whom, ah wretched me ! filled 
with shame, I am hastening. 

A statue of Sichseus has been consecrated by me in a 
marble temple, branches, hung up, and white wool conceal it. 
Four times from that spot did I hear myself called by a well- 
known voice ; in low accents it said — " Elissa, come." 1S There 
is no delay ; I am coming ; I am coming, a wife due to 
thee alone : but still detained by shame at my crime. Grant 
pardon to my error ; an apt contriver of it beguiled me ; he 
diminishes the guiltiness of my fault. His mother a God- 
dess, 14 and his aged father, the affectionate burden of his son, 
gave me hopes of a husband that would be firmly attached. 
If I was to err, my error has a fair excuse ; give him but con- 
stancy ; then, in no respect will it be to be regretted. That 
course of fatality which existed before, continues to the last, and 
attends the closing moments of my existence. My slaughtered 
husband 15 falls at the concealed altars ; and my brother has 
the reward of criminality so great. 

lated by Virgil, in the Fourth Book of the iEneid, how that iEneas and 
Dido being driven into a cave by a sudden storm, their intercourse first 
commenced on that occasion. 

12 Made the outcry.] — Ver. 95. ' Ululo ' is a word of ambiguous sig- 
nification, being sometimes taken in a good, and sometimes in a bad 
sense : the latter more frequently, however. Here it seems to be meant 
in a favourable sense. 

13 Elissa, come.] — Ver. 102. Sichseus is thought appropriately to call 
her ' Elissa ;' as the name of ' Dido,' which is supposed, in the Punic lan- 
guage, to have signified ' a bold woman,' was not given her until after 
her death. Some writers, however, say that she herself assumed tbat 
name after she had founded Carthage. 

14 Mother a Goddess.'] — Ver. 107. She here takes occasion to enu- 
merate all the circumstances which may serve to lessen her guilt. She 
had every reason to believe that he would prove constant, and a faithful 
observer of his vows. Being the son of Venus, he had a Goddess for his 
mother. He had given strong proof of his filial affection, in the care 
which he had taken of the aged Anchises ; whom, when Troy was in 
flames, he had borne upon his shoulders out of the reach of danger 
These were strong grounds for her confidence and trust ; and she could 
never have supposed it possible that a man, who had given such evidence 
of a humane and pious disposition, would treacherously abandon her. 

15 My slaughtered husband.] — Ver. 113. Her husband, Sichaeus, was 



EP. VII.] DIDO TO J3KEAS. 69 

An exile 16 am I banished, and I leave both the ashes of my 
husband and my native land ; and, my enemy pursuing 17 me, 
I am driven into laborious wanderings. I am thrown upon 
coasts unknown ; and escaping both my brother and the 
ocean, I purchase that shore, 18 which, perfidious man, I have 
offered to thee. I build a city, and I erect walls extending 19 
far and wide, that raise the envy of neighbouring spots. 20 
Wars threaten ; a stranger and a woman, I am harassed by 
wars ; and with difficulty do I prepare the unfinished gates 
of my city and my arms. A thousand suitors have I pleased ; 
who have combined. 21 complaining that I have preferred, 22 I 

the high priest of Hercules, and was slain by her brother Pygmalion. 
The ' internae arse/ ' concealed ' or 'interior altars,' may either mean those 
of the shrine of Hercules, or the altars of his own Penates, or household 
Gods. Virgil supports the latter construction. 

16 An exile.} — Ver. 115. For some time after the murder of Sichseus 
by Pygmalion, his ghost was in the habit of visiting Dido by night, and, 
after informing her what had happened, of exhorting her to fly from her 
country and the cruelty of her brother. It also pointed out to her 
where his treasures lay, advising her to carry them along with her, as 
likely to prove serviceable in her exile. By means of these, she was 
enabled to purchase the ground whereon Carthage was afterwards founded. 

17 My enemy pursuing."] — Ver. 116. This was her brother, who pur- 
sued her closely. Dido is careful to amplify every circumstance, and 
gives a long account of the difficulties she had to encounter. Her husband 
murdered, and that by her own brother ; herself an exile, and a settler 
amidst strangers. 

18 Purchase that shore,] — Ver. 118. It is related of Dido that, upon 
her arrival in Africa, she purchased of Iarbas, king of Gaetulia, as much 
land as she could encompass with a bull's hide. This she cut into small 
thongs, and enclosed within them that piece of ground whereon she 
afterwards built the city of Carthage. 

19 Walls extending.] — Ver. 120. She means walls, which, by their 
greatness and strength, raised the jealousy of neighbouring states. 

20 Neighbouring spots.] — Ver. 121. Iarbas, king of Gaetulia, being 
offended that she refused to marry him, was threatening her with war. 

21 Who have combined.] — Ver. 123. Some would read, 'in me,' after 
' qui,' in this line ; while some MSS. have 'me cupiere,' or 'me petiere.' 
But the common reading is to be preferred, if we omit the preposition 
' in,' upon the authority of the best copies. The construction is, ' que- 
rentes me praeposuisse,' ' complaining' that I have preferred.' ' Coiere' 
has, in this passage, the same meaning with ' convenire :' as in the 
Eighth Book of the Metamorphoses, ' Lecta manus juvenum, coiere cu- 
pidine laudis.' 

22 That I have preferred.] — Ver. 124. She says this in a spirit of con- 



70 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOINES. (EP. Til. 

know not whom, to their alliance. Why dost thou hesi- 
tate 23 to deliver me up in chains to the Gsetulian Iarbas ? I 
would yield my arms up to thy criminality. There is my 
brother, too, whose impious hand, stained with the blood of 
my husband, may be stained with mine. 

Put down thy Gods, and the sacred things, which, by touch- 
ing them, thou dost pollute ; an impious right-hand but ill 
worships the Gods of heaven. If thou wast 24 about to be 
their worshipper when they had escaped from the fire, the Gods 
regret that they did escape. Perhaps, too, perjured man, 
thou dost leave Dido in a state of pregnancy ; and a part of thy- 
self lies concealed in my body. To the destiny of its mother, 
a wretched infant will be added, and thou wilt be the cause 
of the death of one not yet born ; with its mother will die as 
well the brother of lulus, and one doom will carry off the two 
together. But a God commands 25 you to be gone. I wish 
he had forbidden you to come, and that the Punic ground 
had not been trodden by the Trojans. Under this guide (a 
God forsooth), thou art buffeted by unfavourable winds, and 
thou dost waste the slowly passing time on the boisterous 
seas ; Pergamus ought hardly to be sought again by thee with 

tempt and disdain. A person to whom I was an utter stranger, whose 
birth and rank I learned only from himself. 

23 Dost thou hesitate.] — Ver. 125. By this, she would insinuate that, 
iEneas has forfeited his claim to piety and humanity, since he has been 
so far from relieving the sorrows of one who deserved well of him, that, 
on the contrary, he has plunged her into them, and has then cruelly aban- 
doned her. 

24 If thou wast. .] — Ver. 131. Her meaning here is, 'The Gods will 
repent of having escaped from the flames, if you are to be their adorer. 
They would rather have dispensed with your agency, and have perished 
with their country, than receive the homage of a votary so impious.' 

25 A God commands.] — Ver. 139. She repeats the objection which 
Mneas has been in the habit of making to prolonging his stay. He has 
told her, that a God commands him to be gone. She means, doubtless, 
either Mercury or Apollo, by whose command he sought to settle in Italy, 
as he himself tells us in the Fourth Book of the JSneid : 

' Sed nunc Italiam magnam Grynaeus Apollo, 
Italiam Lyciae jussere capessere sortes.' 
' But now Grynaean Apollo has commanded me to repair to Italy ; the 
Lycian responses, too, have commanded me to go to Italy.' Dido, how- 
ever, is speaking in an ironical vein ; she says, ' Since you are so scrupu- 
lous in obeying the mandates of the Gods, I only wish they had ordered 
you not to come here.' 



EP. VII. 1 DIDO TO -S3KEAS. 71 

labour so great, if it were as great as it was when Hector 
was alive. 

Thou art not seeking thy native Simois, but the waves of the 
Tiber ; shouldst thou arrive, forsooth, where thou dost wish, 
thou wilt be a stranger. And as this region, which thou dost 
seek, lies concealed, and, hidden, avoids thy ships, it will hardly 
be met with by thee when an aged man. Receive rather, all 
wanderings laid aside, this people for my dower, and the wealth 
of Pygmalion, 26 which I have brought. More propitiously, 
transfer IHum to a Tyrian city, and hold both this, the place 
of thy sovereignty, and the sacred sceptre. If thy mind is 
greedy for warfare, if lulus is seeking whence a triumph may 
be gained, acquired by his warlike skill ; that nothing may be 
wanting, we will find here an enemy for him to subdue ; this 
spot is adapted to the regulations of peace, and to arms. 

Do thou only, by thy mother, and by the weapons of thy 
brother, 27 his arrows, and by the Gods, companions of thy 
flight, the sacred relics of Troy (then, may they survive, who- 
ever thou art bringing with thee from thy nation, and may 
that cruel war prove the limit of 28 thy woes, and may Ascanius 
happily fill up the measure of his years, and in repose may 
the bones of aged Anchises rest), spare, I pray, that house, 
which offers itself to be possessed by thee. What crime dost 
thou lay to my charge, except that I have loved 1 I am not a 
woman of Phthia, 29 or one sprung from great Mycenae, nor 
have my husband and my father ever been in arms against 
thee. 

If thou art ashamed of me as a wife, I may be called not thy 
bride, but thy entertainer. So long as Dido is thine, she will 

2S Wealth of Pygmalion.] — Ver. 150. Dido carried with her into 
Africa, not only the immense treasures of Sichaeus, but also a great part of 
the wealth of Pygmalion. 

27 Of thy brother.] — Ver. 157. She here alludes to Cupid, the son of 
Venus, as his brother. 

28 7 "he limit of ] — Ver. 160. ' May that cruel war which proved so 
fatal to your country, be the last you shall ever be engaged in, and may 
no future wars distress you.' 

29 Woman of Phthia.] — Ver. 165. In saying that she is not from 
Phthia, she means that she is no Greek, not a countrywoman of Achilles, 
nor yet, she adds, from Mycena;, the native place of Agamemnon and 
Menelatis. 



72 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. VII. 

endure to be anything. 30 The seas that beat 31 against the 
African shore are known to me ; at certain seasons they both 
give and deny a passage. When the gales shall allow of a pas- 
sage, thou shalt open thy canvass to the winds. — Now, worth- 
less seaweed surrounds 32 thy ship, cast up. Entrust it to me 
to watch for the opportunity ; with greater safety wilt thou 
depart ; and shouldst thou thyself desire it, I will not allow 
thee to stay. Thy companions, too, require rest, and thy shat- 
tered fleet, only half repaired, requires a little delay. In re- 
turn for my kindnesses, and if, even beyond that, I should 
be under any obligation to thee, in place of my hope of thy 
marriage ties do I implore a little respite ; until the waves 
and my passion are assuaged ; until by time and experience 
I learn to be able with fortitude to endure my sorrows. But 
if not, I have determined to pour forth my life : to me thou 
art not able for long to be cruel. 

30 To be anything.'] — Ver. 168. It has been remarked of Ovid, by 
some critics, that he would appear to greater advantage, were his lines, 
in many instances, transposed ; because his sentiments are often intro- 
duced at a wrong time, and would suit other parts of the Epistle better 
than that in which they are found. Here they would seem to have con- 
siderable reason for animadversion : for Dido, after having loaded ^Eneas 
with reproaches, has recourse to supplication. This would appear, at 
least, in some degree, to savour of absurdity. And yet, it may be the 
result of consummate tact and delicacy. May it not, very possibly, be 
his intention to describe the giddy and inconstant nature of, at least, 
some part of the fair sex. 

31 Seas that beat.} — Ver. 169. Dido still persists in her endeavours 
to dissuade iEneas from his intended voyage. She enumerates all the 
dangers which he will probably encounter by hazarding a voyage at this 
time of the year, when the sea is unsettled and tempestuous ; and she 
then assures him, that when it becomes navigable he shall not only be al- 
lowed to depart, but shall be even urged to it ; while a short delay, for the 
present, is necessary, that his companions may recover from their fatigue, 
and his ships may be refitted. Finally, she will by that time have learnt to 
bear a separation with patience and resolution ; and therefore, out of regard 
to one who has deserved so well of him, he ought not to deny a request 
so reasonable. 

32 Seaweed surrounds.'] — Ver. 172. Crispinus thinks that by this she 
means, that the ships being surrounded by seaweed thrown up, show how 
adverse are the winds, and how boisterous is the sea ; and that this ought 
to act as a warning to him, not at present to trust to the clemency of the 
wayes. This seems to be much more probable than Davison's suggestion, 
that she means that the seaweed is floating around the ships in such 
quantities that they cannot get away. 



1EP. VII.] DIDO TO ^NEAS. 73 

I wish that thou couldst see what is my appearance as I 
write ! I am writing ; and in my lap there is the Trojan sword : 
along my cheeks the tears are falling, too, npon the drawn 
sword which soon will be bathed in blood, in place of tears. 
How well do thy gifts agree with my destiny ! At small ex- 
pense dost thou prepare my sepulchre. 33 And not now for 
the first time is my breast smitten by a weapon : that spot 
has a wound from cruel Love. Anna, my sister, 34 my sister 
Anna! unfortunately the confidant of my error, soon wilt 
thou be presenting thy tears, the last gifts, to my ashes. And, 
consumed on the pile, I shall not have the inscription, " Elissa, 
the wife of Sichseus :" but on the marble of my tomb will 
there be this epitaph — " iEneas afforded 35 both the cause and 
the instrument of her death. Dido fell, 36 having herself 
employed her own hand." 

33 p re pare my sepulchre.'] — Ver. 188. It was a frequent practice with 
the ancients to adorn the sepulchres of the dead at a great expense, and to 
throw gold, rich vestments, and armour, upon the funeral pile. Dido, 
in allusion to this, tells iEneas, in the bitterness of her reproach, that 
the sword which he had presented to her, shall be the instrument of her 
death, and the ornament of her sepulchre. 

34 Anna, my sister.'] — Ver. 191. She addresses her absent sister, who 
had accompanied her to Carthage. When Dido intended to stab herself, 
she dismissed her sister, under some feigned pretence, that she might 
not be interrupted in the prosecution of her design. 

35 JEneas afforded.] — Ver. 195. Ovid adopts the story related by 
Virgil, and intends to represent her as killing herself. Ausonius has a 
witty distich upon the fate of Dido : — 

; Infelix Dido, nulli bene nupta marito, 
Hoc pereunte fugis, hoc fugiente peris !' 
' Unhappy Dido, married under no good auspices to either husband ; the 
one dying, thou didst fly, the other flying, thou didst die.' The same 
has been very prettily translated into French : — 
' Pauvre Didon, ou t'a reduite, 

De tes amants le triste sort ! 

L'un en mourant cause ta fuite, 

L'autre un fuyant cause ta inort.' 
Justin says, that Dido being threatened with war by Iarbas, the king of 
Gaetulia, if she should persist in her refusal to many him, and being 
prompted by her subjects to comply with his desires, named a day for 
propitiating the shade of her husband. Having ascended a lighted 
pile, with her subjects standing around her, she told them that she was 
about to visit her husband, and then leaped into the flames. 

36 Dido fell.] — Vex. 196. Among the Greeks, the inscriptions upon 
funeral monuments usually contained the name of the deceased persons, 



74 THE EPISTLES OF THE HES0IXE3. [EP. VIII* 

EPISTLE VIII. 

HERMIONE TO ORESTES. 

Hermione, the daughter of Menelaiis and Helen, was betrothed, during 
the absence of her father at the Trojan war, to Orestes, the son of 
Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, by Tyndarus, her maternal grandfather, 
to whom Menelaiis had entrusted the care of his family. Menelaiis, in 
the mean time, ignorant of what had been done by Tyndarus, pro- 
mised his daughter to Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, who, by virtue 
of this engagement, claimed her on his return from Troy, and carried 
her away by force. Hermione, being averse to an union with Pyrrhus, 
and passionately fond of Orestes, sent him word how she might be 
recovered from Pyrrhus ; on which, Orestes slew Pyrrhus in the temple 
of Apollo, and thus recovered her. In the present Epistle, she entreats 
him to hasten to her assistance. 

I, Hermioke, 37 address him who was lately my cousin and 
my husband, now my cousin only : the name of husband 
another possesses. 

Pyrrhus, 38 the son of Achilles, impetuous after the fashion 
of his father, holds me in confinement against both right and 
justice. So far as I could, I resisted ; that I might not 39 
against my will be detained ; more, female hands could not do. 
"What art thou doing, descendant of iEacus ?" 40 said I, " I 

and that of the demus, or borough, to which he belonged, as well as 
frequently some account of his life. The epitaph upon the Roman 
urns or tombs began with the letters D. M. S., or only D. M., that is, 
• Dis Manibus Sacrum,' ' sacred to the Manes,' followed by the name of 
the deceased, and generally the length of his life. The tombs of the rich 
were usually built of marble, and the ground was enclosed with an iron 
railing or wall, and planted round with trees. 

37 /, Hermione.]— \ ex. 1. This and the following line are wanting in 
most of the MSS., and Heinsius thinks it to be spurious, although it 
is inserted in most of the editions. Indeed, it does not seem to be in- 
ferior to the usual style of Ovid, and is not an inappropriate commence- 
ment of the Epistle. 

36 Pyrrhus.] — Ver. 3. Pyrrhus is said to have been so called from his 
father Achilles, who, when he was concealed at the court of king 
Lycomedes, in female apparel, was known by the name of Pyrrha ; so, at 
least, we are told by Hyginus. 

39 That I might not.\ — Ver. 5. The negative ' ne ' is put in this 
passage for the affirmative ' ut,' which would not suit the measure. 

40 Descendant of JEacus.] — Ver. 7. Pyrrhus was the great-grandson 
of JSacus, whose son was Peleus, and grandson, Achilles, the father of 
Pyrrhus. 



EP. Till.] HEEMKXNE TO OEESTES. 75 

am not without an avenger. This damsel of thine has a 
master of her own." More deaf than the ocean, he dragged 
me with my dishevelled locks into his abode, as I called upon 
the name of Orestes. 41 What worse could I have endured 
as a captive, if, Lacedeemon taken, a barbarian multitude 
had carried off the Grecian dames ? Less did victorious Achaia 
afflict Andromache, a at the time when the Grecian flames con- 
sumed the Phrygian wealth. 

But, Orestes, if affectionate regard for me influences thee, 
lay thy intrepid hands 43 on what is thy right. Should any 
one carry off the herds from the enclosed folds, wouldst thou 
not wield arms ? and, thy wife carried off, wilt thou be 
hesitating? Let thy father-in-law be thy example, the re- 
claimer of his wife, when borne away ; for whom a female was, 
in his affection, the cause of warfare. If thy father-in-law 44 
had sat down idle in his deserted house, my mother would still 
be the wife of Paris, as formerly she was. And do not thou 
prepare a thousand ships, and the swelling sails, or num- 
bers of Grecian soldiers : do thou come thyself. And yet, 
thus ought I to be demanded back : and it is no disgrace to 
a husband to wage a dreadful war for a beloved wife. 

Besides, have we not the same grandfather, Atreus, the 
son of Pelops ? 45 and wast thou not my husband, still thou art 

41 Name of Orestes."] — Ver. 9. Hermione here uses great artifice to 
move Orestes in her favour. She says that she not only loves him, but 
that she has had the boldness to assert it before Pyrrhus, and to declare 
that she depended upon him for redress. 

42 Afflict Andromache.'] — Ver. 13. Andromache, the wife of Hector, 
falling to the share of Pyrrhus, after the overthrow of Troy, was carried 
captive by him to Epirus, and given in marriage to Helenus, one of the 
sons of Priam, on whom he bestowed a part of his kingdom. It is with 
reason, therefore, that Hermione complains that even Andromache met 
with better usage from Pyrrhus than she had received. 

43 Thy intrepid hands.] — Ver, 16. ' Injice,' here used, is a legal term ; 
for ' injicere manus' signified ' to recover forcibly one's right, without re- 
course to authority '; or, as we say, ' to take the law in one's own hands.' 

44 Thy father-in-law.] — Ver. 21. Menelaiis, her father. 

45 Son of Pelops.] — Ver. 27. She is here using her best arguments to 
persuade Orestes to interest himself in her behalf. Among other grounds, 
she urges him from motives of consanguinity, as they were both of the 
same race. Pelops, the son of Tantalus, was the father of Atreus, Plis- 
thenes, and Thyestes. Plisthenes was, according to some accounts, the 
father of Agamemnon and Menelaiis, who were adopted by Atreus. Aga- 
memnon was the father of Orestes, and Menelaiis, by Helen, of Hermione. 



76 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. VIII. 

my cousin. Husband, help thy wife, I entreat, cousin, aid thy 
cousin : two titles are demanding thy sympathy. Tyndarus, 
a giver of weight both by his life and by his years, bestowed 
me on thee ; the grandsire had the disposal of his grand- 
daughter. But, not knowing what had past, my father pro- 
mised me to the descendant of iEacus : still, my grandsire, 
who was first in time, ought to have most weight. When T 
was married to thee, my marriage affected no person ; should 
I be united to Pyrrhus, thou wilt be offended at me. My 
father, Menelaiis, too, will forgive our affection : he himself 
fell a victim to the weapons of the winged God. That love 
which he indulged in himself, he will indulge in his son-in- 
law : my mother so beloved, will aid us by her example. 

Thou art to me 46 what my father was to my mother : the 
part which the Dardanian stranger once acted, Pyrrhus acts. 
Let him boast without ceasing of the acts of his father : thou, 
too, hast the deeds of a parent to relate. The descendant of 
Tantalus 47 ruled over all, and even Achilles himself ; the one 
was a part of the expedition : the other was the leader of the 
chiefs. Thou hast also Pelops for thy ancestor, and the father of 
Pelops : shouldst thou reckon aright, thou art the fifth from 
Jove. Nor art thou wanting in valour : thou hast wielded 
arms, a cause of reproach: 48 but what couldst thou do? 
'Twas thy father caused thee 49 to assume them. I could have 

Thyestes was the father of iEgisthus, who, having seduced Clytemnestra, 
the wife of his cousin Agamemnon, while engaged in the Trojan war, con- 
spired with the adultress to kill him on his return home, which was ac- 
cordingly effected. 

46 Art to me.] — Ver. 41, ' Tu mihi quod matri pater es.' The mean- 
ing is, ' As my father was lawful husband to my mother Helen, so are 
you to me ; and as Paris was no lawful husband to my mother, but a 
ravisher, so does Pyrrhus act the same part to me, in detaining me from 
Orestes, who is my lawful husband.' 

4,7 Of Tantalus.'] — Ver. 45. Tantalus, the father of Pelops, was the 
great-grandfather of Agamemnon ; who was chosen commander of all the 
Grecian troops in the expedition against Troy, and consequently had com- 
mand over Achilles himself, in whose valour Pyrrhus gloried so much. 

4s Cause of reproach.'] — Ver. 49. Her meaning is, ' Though your vir- 
tues are not publicly known, you are not therefore destitute of them ; but 
you have unhappily assumed arms in an ungracious cause.' She speaks thus 
because he had killed his mother Clytemnestra in revenge for his father, 
whom, in conjunction with ^Egisthus she had murdered. Hermione industri- 
ously conceals this act of dreadful vengeance, and mentions only JEgisthus. 

49 Father caused thee.] — Ver. 50. In this line, instead of ' induit ilia 



EP. VIII.] HEBMIONE TO OEESTES. 77 

wished that, on a better occasion, thou hadst been brave ; the 
task was not chosen, 50 but was allotted to thy agency. Still 
thou didst fulfil it ; and, his throat pierced, iEgisthus stained 
with his blood the dwelling that once thy father did. The 
descendant of iEacus blames thee, and turns thy praises into 
reproach : and yet does he endure my looks. 51 

I am distracted, and my cheeks as well as my feelings 
swell with rage ; my breast, too, suffers, parched with the 
fires within. And shall any one, in the presence of Hermione, 
dare to blame Orestes ? I have no strength ; nor have I the 
hostile sword. At least I may weep : by weeping do we dissi- 
pate our anger ; and adown my breast do my tears flow like a 
stream. These alone 52 do I ever possess, and ever let fall: 
my neglected cheeks are moistened by a continual stream. 

By this fatality of our race, which extends even to our 
years, are we matrons of the house of Tantalus, a sure prey. 
I will not mention 63 the device of the swan of the stream : 
nor will I complain that Jove lay concealed beneath the 
feathers. Where the Isthmus, 54 extending afar, divides the two 

pater,' most of the MSS. read ' induit ilia patrem ;' and the sentence is 
then understood to refer to the method hy which Clytemnestra contrived 
the death of Agamemnon, namely, by killing him at a moment when his 
hands were impeded by a garment which he was putting on, and of which 
the arms were purposely sewed up. But 'induit ilia pater' is undoubt- 
edly the correct reading ; the word ' pater ' in this place signifying the 
same as ' pietas erga patrem,' « filial piety,' or, 'just resentment on the 
death of a father.' 

50 Task was not chosen.'} — Ver. 52. She excuses the deed as not having 
been voluntary, but the effect of necessity and constraint. 

51 Endure my looks.] — Ver. 56. We must suppose this to be said 
with extreme indignation, either at the presumption of Pyrrhus in re- 
proaching to her face her relative and the man whom she loved, or at the 
tameness of Orestes, in thus quietly leaving her to endure the insults of a 
rival. In 1. 59, ' quisquam ' is the reading adopted. 

53 These alone.] — Ver. 63. This portion of the Epistle is very affecting. 
She says that tears are now her only refuge ; these come always at her 
command, and these she sheds in abundance. 

53 / will not mention.] — Ver. 67. She here makes use of a rhetorical 
artifice, in telling a thing by declining to do so. She touches upon the 
story of Leda, who was her grandmother by the mother's side, and 
whom Jupiter was said to have seduced under the shape of a swan, of 
which intrigue Castor and Pollux, and Helen and Clytemnestra, were the 
fruit. 

54 Where the Isthmus.] — Ver. 69. The Isthmus here mentioned is 



78 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. VIII. 

seas, Hippodamia 55 was borne on the stranger chariot. By- 
Castor of Amy else, 56 and by Amyclsean Pollux, was their 
Taenarian sister rescued from the Mopsopian city. 57 That 
damsel of Tsenarus, borne over the seas by the stranger from 
Ida, summoned the Argive bands in arms for her. For my 
part, hardly do I remember it ; still I do remember it. All 
places were full of mourning, all were full of anxious appre- 
hensions. My grandsire, Tyndarus, was weeping, and her 
sister, Phoebe, 58 and her twin brothers ; to the Gods was Leda 
praying, and to her own Jove. 

I myself, having my hair, not as yet 59 so very long, cut 
short, used to exclaim, " Mother, dost thou depart without 
me, me left behind V For her husband was away. Lest I 
should be supposed not to be of the race of Pelops, lo ! I 

that of Corinth, near which lived (Enomaiis, the king of Pisa and Elis, and 
the father of Hippodamia. Being solicited in marriage by many who 
admired her extreme beauty, her father proposed as his terms to the 
suitors, that they should contend with him in a chariot race. If they should 
be overcome, they were to lose their lives ; while the first that should prove 
victorious, was to have her as his prize. Pelops the Phrygian, having 
first bribed Myrtilus, the charioteer of (Enomaiis, to draw the lynch-pin 
from the wheel of his master's chariot, overcame him in the contest, and 
bore off Hippodamia, as the reward of his victory. 

55 Hippodamia."] — Ver. 70. Commentators are at a loss to account 
how Leda and Hippodamia can with any propriety be reckoned among 
those whom, a little before, Hermione called " matres Tantalides." This 
difficulty may, however, be readily obviated. Hippodamia is so called, 
because she was the wife of Pelops, the son of Tantalus, and the mother 
of the race of Tantalidse that sprang from him ; Leda for a similar 
reason. 

56 Amyclce.] — Ver. 71. Amy else was a city of Laconia, where Castor 
and Pollux were said to have been born. 

57 Mopsopian city.'] — Ver. 72. Strabo says that Attica was called 
Mopsopia from one of its ancient kings. She here alludes to the re- 
covery of Helen from Theseus by Castor and Pollux. The city here 
alluded to was Aphidna, to which place Theseus had carried her. Helen 
is called '■ Taenaris,' from Tsenarus, the promontory of Laconia. 

58 Her sister Phoebe.] — Ver. 77. We learn, on the authority of Eu- 
ripides, in his ' J.phigenia,' that Leda had, besides Helen and Clytemnestra, 
a daughter named Phoebe. 

59 Not as yet.] — Ver. 79. Most of the MSS. read 'nunc,' but one 
reads ' tunc,' which appears more conformable to sense, for it would 
be absurd in Hermione to say that the hair, which was cut short before 
the beginning of the Trojan war, had not had time to grow, even then, 
when the war had been long concluded. 



EP. Till.] HEKMIONE TO ORESTES. 7'J 

have formed a prey for Neoptolemus. 60 Would that 01 the son 
of Peleus had escaped the bow of Apollo ! the father would 
have condemned the insolent doings of the son. It neither 
pleased 62 Achilles formerly, nor would it now have pleased 
him, that a husband should mourn, bereft of his ravished 
wife. What crime of mine has made the Gods of heaven 
thus hostile ? What star (unhappy that I am !) shall I com- 
plain of as hostile to myself ? 

When little, I was deprived of my mother ; my father was 
wielding arms ; and, though the two were alive, of the two 
was I deprived. I did not, my mother, in my early years, 
when a child, pour forth to thee fond accents uttered with 
lisping tongue. I did not embrace thy neck with my little 
arms : I did not sit, a pleasing burden, on thy lap. No care 
of my education hadst thou ; nor, engaged to a husband, did I 
enter the new bridal chamber, my mother preparing it. 63 I 
came out to meet thee at thy return ; and (I will confess the 
truth), the face of my parent was not recognized by me. Still 
I knew thee to be Helen, because thou wast most beauteous ; 
thou thyself didst make enquiry which was thy daughter. 
The only circumstance 64 that turned out to my advantage was 

60 Neoptolemus.'] — Ver. 82. Pyrrlms having gone to the Trojan war 
when very youthful, ohtained the surname of Neoptolemus in conse- 
quence. It was decreed by the Fates that Troy should not be taken 
without the presence of one of the descendants of ^Eacus. 

61 Would that.'} — Ver. 83. She says that the brave and heroic spirit 
of Achilles would have highly blamed an action so base ; had he been 
alive, he would probably have done her justice. The arrows of Apollo 
are mentioned, because Achilles was slain in the temple of Apollo, by 
an arrow directed by the hand of Paris, but said to have been guided 
by Apollo to the heel, the only vulnerable part of the body of Achilles. 

62 It neither pleased. .] — Ver. 85. For Achilles, when Brisei's was un- 
justly taken from him, carried his resentment so far, that he refused to 
join his countrymen in prosecuting the Trojan war, and actually with- 
drew from the Grecian camp, to which he could not be prevailed upon to 
turn, till Brisei's was restored to him. Hermione, by this, artfully inti- 
mates to Orestes that he ought to imitate the example of Achilles, and 
act with the same firmness and resolution. 

63 Mother preparing it.~\ — Ver. 96. It was the custom for either the 
mother, or the nearest female relative, to conduct the bride into the nup- 
tial chamber. 

64 Only circumstance.] — Ver. 101. Hermione, after giving a detail of 
her misfortunes, says that there was one point in which she had accounted 
herself happy, and that was the being affianced to Orestes ; and yet even 



80 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. VIII. 

Orestes for my husband ; he, too, unless he shall fight on his 
own behalf, will be torn away from me. 

My father returned and victorious, Pyrrhus possesses me 
thus ravished ; and ruined Troy 65 has conferred on me this 
advantage. But when Titan, on high, 66 presses on with his 
radiant steeds, then, in my distress, I enjoy a greater freedom 
from sorrow. When night has consigned me to my chamber, 
shrieking and giving utterance to bitter lamentations, and 
when I have laid me down on my sorrowing couch, in place 
of sleep, my eyes are filled with gushing tears ; and so far 
as I can, I fly from my husband, as though from an enemy. 
Often am I bewildered by my sorrows ; and, unmindful both 
of circumstances and of the place, with unconscious hand 
I touch the limbs of him of Scyros. 67 Soon as I am sen- 
sible of my error, I start from the body that I have unfortu- 
nately touched ; and I believe myself to have polluted hands. 

Often, instead of the name of Neoptolemus, the name of 
Orestes escapes me ; and I am pleased with the mistake of 
my words, as an omen of good. By our unhappy race 68 do 
I swear, and the parent of our race, 69 who shakes the seas, the 

here, as if the Fates had decreed that her life should be uniformly un- 
happy, she is likely to meet with the strongest opposition ; nor can 
Orestes in any way maintain his right hut by the sword. 

65 Ruined Troy.~] — Ver. 104. This seems to be said by way of an- 
tithesis to what had happened to her mother. Troy when standing, sent 
Paris, as a ravisher, to carry off Helen ; when destroyed, it sent Pyrrhus 
to act the same part to her. 

66 Titan, on high. — Ver. 105. She here mentions the nature of her 
grief, which, though it lay heavy upon her at all times, was the most 
sensibly felt during the night. Then it was that she wept incessantly, 
the images of her distress occurring to her more vividly, and affecting 
her more strongly. 

67 Him of Scyros."] — Ver. 112. She speaks of the ' Scyria membra,' 
' those Scyrian limbs/ in a tone of contempt : Pyrrhus was born in the 
island of Scyros, while Achilles was concealed in female apparel among 
the daughters of Lycomedes, that he might avoid going to the Trojan 
war, whence it had been prophesied that he would never return. 

68 Our unhappy race.] — Ver. 117. This family was remarkable for 
the number of rapes and murders that were perpetrated by and on 
its members; insomuch that the writers of Tragedy very frequently 
borrowed their subjects from it. 

69 Parent of our race.] — Ver. 117. This was Jupiter, who was said 
to have been the father of Tantalus. 



EP. IX.] DE1AH1BA TO HERCULES. 81 

earth, and his own realms ; by the bones of thy father, my 
uncle, which are indebted to thee, that, thou having bravely 
avenged them, they are lying in the tomb ; either will I 
prematurely die, and be cut off in my early years ; or I, a 
descendant of Tantalus, will be the wife 70 of one descended 
from Tantalus. 



EPISTLE IX. 
DE1ANIRA TO HERCULES. 

Jupiter being inflamed with a passion for Alcmena, assumed the form of 
her husband, Amphitryon, and by that stratagem obtained possession of 
her, and became the father of Hercules. Juno, burning with jealousy 
and hatred at the innocent offspring of this stolen embrace, prompted 
Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, to join her in attempting to destroy him ; 
an object which he endeavoured to effect, by urging Hercules to many 
perilous undertakings; in which, however, he had always the good fortune 
to be victorious. After subduing many monsters and robbers, the hero 
married Dei'anira, the daughter of (Eneus, king of iEtolia, who had been 
betrothed to Achelous, and from whom Hercules won her in a contest of 
strength. On crossing a river, Nessus, the Centaur, offered his as- 
sistance in carrying her over ; but, treacherously waiting till Hercules 
had gained the other side, he attempted to ravish her. Perceiving 
his design, the hero pierced him with an arrow that had been poisoned 
with the blood of the Hydra. Nessus, while dying of the wound, pre- 
sented Dei'anira with a garment dipped in his own blood ; assuring her 
that it would prevent her husband from wavering in his affection to- 
wards her. It was not long before Hercules gave proof of his incon- 
stancy ; for, becoming enamoured of lole, the daughter of Eurytus, king 
of (Echalia, he applied to her father for permission to marry her. His 
suit being rejected, he captured the city, slew the king, and carried off 
the princess. His passion for her became so extravagant, that, at her 
desire, he laid aside his club, his lion's skin, and the other insignia of 
valour, and, putting on woman's apparel, was not ashamed to spin 
among her maids. Dei'anira, hearing of this degeneracy, and giving credit 
to the words of the Centaur, sent him the poisoned garment. This cir- 
cumstance is supposed to be followed by the Epistle now before us, in 
which she upbraids him with his unmanly weakness, and endeavours to 
awaken him to a sense of glory, by reminding him of his former ex- 

70 Will be the wife ] — Ver. 122. Hermione was more fortunate than 
most of the heroines of Ovid, as she obtained her wish. Orestes slew 
Pyrrhus in the temple of Apollo, and afterwards married Hermione, and 
had a son by her. 

G 



82 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. IX. 

ploits. But on hearing, before she has concluded the Epistle, the fatal 
effects of the garment, she exclaims most vehemently against her own 
rashness, and threatens to end her life by her own hands . 

I, this letter, 71 the confidant of her feelings, am sent by his 
wife to Alcides, if, indeed ', Deianira is thy wife. 

I congratulate thee that (Echalia 72 is added to thy glories ; 73 
I lament that 74 the conqueror has succumbed to the conquered. 
A report of thy dishonour has suddenly reached the Pelasgian 
cities, 75 and one that by thy deeds must be contradicted ; 
namely, that lole has imposed the yoke upon him, whom 
Juno, and the endless series of his labours, could never 
subdue. This would Eurystheus 76 desire ; this would the 
sister of the Thunderer desire ; and joyous would be thy step- 
mother 77 at this stain upon thy life. But he would not desire 

71 /, this letter. .] — These first two lines are generally considered to be 
spurious : — 

1 Mittor ad Alciden a conjuge conscia mentis 
Litera, si conjux Deianira tua est.' 
"• 2 (Echalia.'] — Ver. 1. Ancient writers make mention of three cities 
of the name of (Echalia ; one in Thessaly, one in Arcadia, and a third in 
Eubcea. Commentators generally suppose that the last is the one which 
is here meant. . Deianira is here speaking ironically. 

73 To thy glories.] — Ver* 1. The general reading is ' nostris ;' but 
' vestris ' seems to be the more correct : as it is not likely that Deianira 
would assume credit to herself for an event which had caused her so 
much uneasiness as the capture of (Echalia. 

74 I lament that.] — Ver. 2. ' I rejoice in your victory ; but I complain 
that you are now the slave of those whom you have conquered, by suffer- 
ing lole to gain possession of your heart, and submitting to her disgrace- 
ful exactions.' 

75 Pelasgian cities.] — Ver. 3. The Pelasgi were the most ancient of 
all the people of Greece, and derived their name from Pelasgus, the son 
of Jupiter. The appellation of ' Pelasgia' was at first given to only a part 
of Thessaly, afterwards to Peloponnesus, and latterly it became a common 
appellation for the whole of Greece. 

76 Eurystheus.] — Ver. 7. Eurystheus was the son of Sthenelus and 
the king of Mycenae. Wishing to destroy Hercules, Juno applied to 
him ; and, by her solicitations, prevailed so far, that he engaged Her- 
cules in several hazardous attempts, in the hope that he might miscarry, 
and be slain. But all this tended only to increase his fame, and to 
place his glory in a more conspicuous point of view ; for he had the good 
fortune to be always the conqueror, and thus gained the character of a 
hero. 

77 Thy stepmother.] — Ver. 8. Juno being the wife of the father of 
Hercules, was consequently his stepmother 



MP. IX. J DElAXIEA TO HEECULES. 83 

it, for whom (if credit is only given) one night was not suffi- 
cient 78 for one so great as thee to be begotten. Venus has 
injured thee more than Juno. The one, by depressing thee, 
elevated thee ; the other keeps thy neck beneath her lowly 
foot. 

Look around upon the world, at peace 79 through thy aveng- 
ing might, wherever the azure Nereus surrounds the extended 
earth. To thee, the earth in peace, 80 to thee all seas are in- 
debted ; either abode of the Sun hast thou filled with thy 
deserts. The heavens which will support thee, thou thyself 
didst first support ; Hercules placed beneath, Atlas bore the 
stars. What is it but sl notoriety gained for thy shocking 
lapse, if thou dost blemish thy former exploits by the stain of 
unchasteness ? Do they say that, with firm grasp, thou didst 
strangle the two serpents, at the time when, a babe in the 
cradle, 82 thou wast worthy of Jove? With more honour didst 
thou begin than thou dost close ; the last scene falls short 
of the first ; how unlike are the present man and the child of 
that day. Him, whom a thousand monsters, whom the son of 
Sthenelus, his enemy, whom Juno could not overcome, Love 
subdues. 

But I am considered to be honourably wedded, because I 
am styled the wife of Hercules ; and because he is my father- 
in-law, who thunders aloft on his furious steeds. In the 

,8 Not sufficient.'] — Ver. 9. She here alludes to Jupiter, who was said 
to have united three nights into one when he begot Hercules. 

79 World at peace.] — Ver. 13. She alludes to the fact of Hercules 
having cleared the earth of robbers, monsters, and tyrants. 

90 Earth in peace.] — Ver. 15. The Greeks attributed numberless ex- 
ploits to Hercules. They said that he traversed the whole earth, and 
established peace and tranquillity in all the kingdoms through which he 
passed. It is most probable that there were several heroes of that name, 
the enterprizes of ail of whom were ascribed by the Greeks to the Theban 
Hercules. 

S1 What is it but.] — Ver. 19. This may be thus paraphrased : ' What 
have you gained by all your mighty achievements, but the propagation of 
the fame of your sad degeneracy V Marius, in the Jugurthine war of Sal- 
lust, expresses himself nearly to the same effect ; ' Majorum gloria posteris 
lumen est, neque mala eorum in occulto patitur.' ' The bravery of our 
ancestors is a light to their posterity ; nor does it suffer their failings to 
be concealed from public notice.' 

* Babe in the cradle.]— -Ver. 21. She alludes to the serpents sent by 
Juuo, w'hich he killed while he was vet an infant in the cradle. 

u 2 



84 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. IX. 

same degree that oxen of unequal size are badly matched for 
the plough, so is a wife of inferior rank injured by an illus- 
trious husband. 'Tis no honour, 83 but a burden ; a distinc- 
tion destined to injure her who supports it. Should any of 
you women wish to marry happily, marry your equal. My 
husband is for ever absent, and a stranger is better known 
to him than his wife ; and he is always in pursuit of mon- 
sters, 84 and dreadful wild beasts. 85 I, myself, in my forlorn 
dwelling, sacrificing with chaste vows, am living in torment, lest 
my husband should fall by the hand of the hostile foe. Amid 
serpents am I distracted, and wild boars, and ravenous lions, and 
dogs that eat with their three mouths. The entrails of victims, 86 
and the empty phantoms of sleep, and the forebodings 67 

33 'Tis no honour, .] — Ver. 31 . Her meaning maybe thus paraphrased : 
1 To be married to one so much above us is no honour, but a burden ; it 
is a dignity that hurts the person on whom it is conferred. One thus 
matched has many hardships to encounter, must bear sometimes with ill- 
usage without daring to complain, and must pretend to feel greatly honoured 
by every instance of favour.' 

S4 Of monsters.'] — Ver. 34. Such as the Hydra of Lerna, which had 
seven, nine, or according to some, a hundred heads, Cerberus, Cacus, and 
others. 

85 Wild beasts.~] — Ver. 34. Such as the lion of Nemsea, and the wild 
boar of the Erymanthian forest. 

86 Entrails of victims. .] — Ver. 39. The examination of the ' fibrae,' or 
' exta,' the entrails of beasts, devolved upon the persons who were called 
' aruspices,' or ' haruspices,' who explained the will of the Gods from the 
appearance of the entrails of the animals offered in sacrifices, and also 
from lightning, earthquakes, and the other extraordinary phsenomena of 
nature. The art of the ' aruspices' originally came to Rome from 
Etruria, and resembled that of the augurs in many respects ; but it 
appears that these soothsayers themselves had little religious authority, and 
were only regarded as a means of ascertaining the will of the Gods. In 
the time of the Emperors, we read of a ' collegium,' or order of sixty 
' aruspices,' but the time of its institution is not known. At one 
period of the Republic this art was considered so important, that the 
Senate decreed that a certain number of youth from Etruria, belonging to 
the principal families in the state, should always be instructed in it. The 
Senate sometimes consulted the ' aruspices,' as also did private persons. 
In later times, however, their art fell into disrepute among the well- 
educated Romans, and Cicero relates a saying of Cato, that he wondered 
how one ' aruspex ' could refrain from laughing when he met another. 

87 The forebodings.] — Ver. 40. By the word ' omina,' some would 
here understand ' auguries ;' while other Commentators think it to mean 
' oracular responses,' or ' prophecies.' It probably means neither ; but 
merely random conceptions, formed from any objects, indifferently, during 



EP. IX.] DElANTRA TO HEKCTTLES. 85 

formed in the stilly night are for ever tormenting me. In 
my misery I am ever watching after the whisperings of doubt- 
ful reports ; and by doubtful hopes my fear is dispelled, and 
then, by fear my hopes. 

Thy mother is absent; 88 and she regrets that she had 
charms for the mighty God ; neither thy father, Amphitryon, 
nor thy son, Hyllus, b9 is here. Eurystheus, the minister of 
the unjust rage of Juno, is felt by me, the prolonged wrath, 
too, of that Goddess. To endure this is too little ; thou dost 
add thy passion for strangers : and any woman may become 
a mother by thee. I will not make mention of Auge, 90 de- 
flowered in the Parthenian vales, 91 nor yet, Nymph, daughter 
of Ormenus, 92 of thy offspring ; the Sisters, 93 the Teuthran- 

the night ; for nothing is more common, with the ignorant and timid, than 
to convert the screeching of an owl, the ticking of a death-watch, or the 
most trifling circumstances in nature, into omens and prognostics of ill. 

88 Mother is absent.] — Ver. 43. She here enumerates the several 
circumstances of her distress. Not only has she been abandoned by her 
husband, but she has no friend, even to console her. She tells him that 
his mother Alcmena is not with her ; for Hercules having at an enter- 
tainment slain the cup-bearer of OEneus, had retired to the court of Ceyx, 
at Trachyn, in which place he had left Dei'anira. 

89 Thy son, Hyllus.] — Ver. 44. Hyllus was the son of Hercules, by 
Dei'anira. He had, before this, been sent into exile by Eurystheus. Ac- 
cording to Strabo, Amphitryon, who was the putative father of Hercules, 
was at this time engaged, together with Cephalus, in fighting against the 
Teleboans and the Taphians. 

90 Of 'Auge .] — Ver. 49. Auge was the daughter of Aleus, king of Arca- 
dia, and, being seduced by Hercules, she had a son by him, named Telephus. 

91 Parthenian vales.] — Ver. 49. ' Parthenian' is here an epithet, sig- 
nifying ' Arcadian ' ; for ' Parthenius' was a mountain of Arcadia, which 
derived its name from the sacrifices offered on it to Venus, by a select 
company of virgins, in Greek called TtapQtvoi. 

92 Of Ormemcs.] — Ver. 50. She here alludes to Astydamia, the daugh- 
ter of king Ormenus. Hercules demanded her in marriage from her 
father ; but he refused, knowing him to be already married to Deianira. 
On this, Hercules, being enraged at the rejection of his addresses, made 
war upon him, took his city by storm, and slew him. Astydamia was 
made prisoner by the conqueror, and afterwards bore to him a son, named 
Ctesippus. 

93 The Sisters.] — Ver. 51. This refers to the fifty daughters of Thes- 
pius, the son of Erectheus, king of Athens. All these, according to 
some writers, Hercules debauched in one night, and begot fifty sons, 
who were called Thespiades. The story is, however, told in a different 
manner by other authors. According to them, Hercules visited Thestius, 
the king of the Thespians, at the time when he was about to engage the 



86 THE EPISTLES OF .THE HEEOIKES. [EP. IX. 

tian throng, 94 shall not be a reproach against thee ; of whose 
number not one was omitted by thee. One paramour, 95 a 
recent transgression, is preferred before me ; through her 
am I become the step-mother of Lydian Lamus. 96 Meeander, 
who wanders so many times in the same spots, who turns 
back so often to himself his weary waters, has beheld the 
necklace 97 hanging on the neck of Hercules ; that neck, to 
which the heavens were an easy load. 

He was not ashamed to encircle his strong arms with gold, 5 
and to fit the gems on his solid muscles. And yet 99 under 

lion of Cithseron. Being entertained there for fifty days, each night one of 
the fifty daughters of Thestius was admitted to the couch of the hero ; as 
Thestius was anxious to propagate the race of the son of Jupiter. Her- 
cules, being unaware of his design, all the time imagined that only one of 
the maidens had been admitted to his embraces. Revolving time, however, 
beheld fifty of his progeny. Thestius is frequently called by the name of 
Thespius. 

94 Teuthrantian throng.] — Ver. 51. Commentators are somewhat at a 
loss to know why the Thestiades are here called ' Teuthrantia turba,' ' the 
Teuthrantian multitude? Stephanus suggests that Teuthras, the son of 
Pandion, was the father of Thestius, or Thespius ; but the most probable 
conjecture is, that they are so called from Teuthrantus, a town of Attica, 
where was to be seen a most masterly picture, in which this story of Her- 
cules was represented. 

95 One paramour.] — Ver. 53. This is not to be understood of Iole, 
but of Omphale, the queen of Lydia, to whom Hercules subjected himself 
in the most degrading manner ; receiving with abject submission all her 
commands, which Dei'anira enumerates here at length. 

96 Lydian Lamm.] — Ver. 54. Lamus was the son of Omphale by 
Hercules. 

97 The necklace.] — Ver. 57. On the necklaces worn among the an- 
cients, see the Note to Book x. of the Metamorphoses, 1. 113. The 
beauty and splendour, as well as the value of their necklaces, were con- 
siderably enhanced by the insertion of pearls and precious stones ; and for 
this purpose, as we learn from Juvenal, emeralds, or stones of a greenish 
hue, were often employed. Amber necklaces are also mentioned in the 
Odyssey. Necklaces of great value were often presented as offerings to 
Venus, Minerva, and other Goddesses. 

98 Arms with gold.] — Ver. 60. She alludes to either bracelets or arm- 
lets, or rings set with gems. For an instance of the servitude of Hercules, 
see the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 305. 

99 And get.] — Ver. 61. Astonished at her husband's effeminacy, she 
breaks out into reproaches, and endeavours to make him sensible of his 
degeneracy, by comparing his past with his present conduct : in which the 
disproportion is too manifest not to make him ashamed of his recent be- 
haviour. She tells him that those powerful arms, which were formerly 
more than a match for the lion of Nemsea, and were since adorned with 



EP. IX.] DE1A23XRA TO HERCULES. 87 

these arms did the Nemsean plague breathe forth his life ; 
from which his left shoulder derives its covering. Thou didst 
go so far as to encircle thy shaggy hair with the cap ; l the 
white poplar 2 was better suited to the locks of Hercules. And 
dost thou not think it unbecoming for thee, after the manner 
of a wanton girl, to be encircled with the Mseonian girdle? 3 
The form of 4 savage Diomedes 5 did not then recur to thee, 
who barbarously fed his mares on human flesh. If Busiris 6 had 
beheld thee in that garb, thou wouldst have been, forsooth, acon- 
queror for the conquered to be ashamed of. Antaeus would 
have torn off the ribands 7 from thy hardy neck ; that he might 
not be disgraced, in having submitted to an effeminate man. 
Amid the Ionian damsels, 8 thou art said to have held the work- 
basket, 9 and to have trembled at the threats of thy mistress. 

his skin as a token of their victory, are now decked with bracelets, and 
employed in the unmanly exercises of spinning and weaving. 

1 With the cap.~] — Ver. 63. For some account of the ' mitra,' see the 
Note to the Metamorphoses, Book xv. 1. 654. 

2 White poplar. 1 — Ver. 64. Hercules is said to have adorned his head 
with a garland of poplar, when he went down into the infernal regions, in 
quest of Cerberus. Hence, the white poplar became sacred to Hercules, 
and those who sacrificed to him were crowned with it. 

3 Mceonian girdle.'] — Ver. 66. ' She gives him her fine-wrought gown, 
dyed with Gastulian purple ; she gives him the net- work zone, with which 
just now she had been girt. The zone is too small for his girth ; she un- 
looses the laces of the gown, that he may get his huge hands through.' 
Fasti, Book ii. 1. 319—324. 

4 The form of.] — Ver. 67. The note of interrogation at tbe end of the 
next line seems to be unnecessary. 

5 Savage Diomedes.] — Ver. 67. According to the ancient writers, 
Diomedes was a cruel king of Thrace, who was in the habit of feeding 
his horses with the flesh of strangers whom he had murdered, and of 
sometimes nailing their heads to the gates of his palace. Hercules slew 
him, and subjected him to the cruel usage he had shown to others. 

6 If Bmiris.] — Ver. 69. This king of Egypt is said to have been in 
the habit of sacrificing strangers, in order to procure from the Deities a 
favourable inundation of the Nile. Orosius says, that he was in the habit 
of drinking the blood of his victims in honour of his Gods. Intending to 
put Hercules to death, he was slain by that hero. 

7 The riband*.] — Ver. 71. For the ' redimicula,' which consisted probr.- 
bly of ribands, or bows, see Metamorphoses, Book x. 1. 265, and the Note. 

8 Ionian damsels.] — Ver. 73. The maids of Omphale are called ' Ioni- 
cae puellaa,' from the circumstance of Ionia being adjacent to Lydia. In 
some MSS., however, we find * Maeonia,' which signifies ' Lydian,' and is 
perhaps a preferable reading. 

9 Tke work-basket,] — Ver. 73. The ' calathus,' the diminutive of 



88 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. IX. 

Dost thou not hesitate, Alcides, 10 to place those hands that 
have been victorious in a thousand toils, upon the smooth 
baskets? And art thou drawing out the coarse threads 
with thy stout fingers, and returning thy task 11 in its full 
weight to thy illustrious mistress ? Oh ! how often, while 
thou art twisting the threads' 2 with thy hardy fingers, have 
thy too powerful hands destroyed 13 the spindles. Thou art 
believed, 14 unfortunate man, trembling at the thongs of the 

which was ' calathiscus,' usually signified the basket in which women 
placed their work and materials for spinning. These baskets were gene- 
rally made of osiers and reeds, but sometimes of more valuable materials, 
such as silver, and in such cases, probably of filagree work. Baskets of this 
kind were also used for other purposes, such as carrying fruit and flowers. 
The name was of Greek origin, and was also given to a kind of cup for 
holding wine. The term ' rasilis,' here used, may possibly apply to the 
twigs, as being peeled or scraped. 

10 Alcides.']— Ver. 75. Alcides was a name given to Hercules, as some 
say, from his grandfather Alcaeus ; though, according to others, and with 
more probability, it was derived from the Greek ciXk?), ' strength.' 

11 Returning thy task.] — Ver. 78. ' Pensum ' was the portion weighed 
out to female slaves, for the purpose of being dressed or spun : when 
that was completed, they returned it to their mistress, first weighing it 
again, (rependentes) as in the present instance, to show that they had re- 
turned the full quantity. A few words here may not be inappropriate as to 
the method of spinning among the ancients. The spindle, which was 
called * fusus,' was always accompanied with the distaff, ' colus.' The 
wool, or flax, having been prepared and dyed, was rolled into balls 
loose enough to allow of being easily pulled apart. The upper part of the 
distaff being inserted in this mass, the lower part was held in the left 
hand, under the left arm, in such a position as was found convenient for 
the process. The fibres were drawn out and twisted chiefly by the use of 
the fore-finger and thumb of the right hand ; and the thread so produced 
was wound upon the spindle, which was turned by a wheel. The distaff 
was about three times the length of the spindle, and commonly made of 
a stick or a reed, but sometimes of richer materials, and highly orna- 
mented. Theocritus has left a poem composed on his sending an ivory 
distaff to the wife of a friend. Golden spindles were also sometimes sent 
as presents to ladies of high rank. In the rural parts of Italy, women 
were forbidden to spin while travelling on foot, the act being considered 
to be of ill omen. The spinning wheel was a favourite implement in in- 
cantations and magical operations. See the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 577. 

12 Twisting the threads.] — Ver. 79. ' Stamen ' signifies not only the 
warp, but also the thread of which the warp was made. 

13 Hands destroyed.] — Ver. 80. She accuses him of clumsiness in such 
trivial pursuits, for which his fingers were never made. 

14 Thou art believed.] — Ver. 81. This and the following line are wanting 



EP. IX.] DElAKCRA TO HEBCULES. 89 

whip, 15 to have crouched down before the feet of thy mistress. 
Thou didst talk of thy surpassing glories, 16 the vaunted praises 
of thy triumphs, and the exploits which ought to have been 
concealed by thee. And dost thou say, forsooth, how that in 
the cradle thy youthful hand grasped the huge serpents with 
their tightened jaws ? How, too, the Tegesean boar 17 fell upon 
Erymanthus that bears the cypress, and oppressed the ground 
with its vast weight ? Are not the heads, suspended in the 
Thracian abodes, passed over by thee in silence, and are not the 
mares fattened by the slaughter of men ? The threefold mon- 
ster, too, Geryon, abounding in Iberian herds, although he 
was three in one 1 Cerberus, also, branching from one trunk 
into as many dogs, his hair wreathed with threatening snakes ? 
The serpent, too, 13 which, in its fecundity, multiplied by its 
teeming wounds, and itself became enriched by its own losses ? 
He, too, who hung, 19 his throat having been squeezed be- 
tween thy left side and thy left arm, an enormous burden ? 

in many of the MSS., and the distich is supposed by Heinsius to be 
spurious. 

15 Thongs of the whip.]— Ver. 81. She represents him here as sub- 
mitting even to the lash, the instrument of the punishment of slaves 
in ancient times. The ' scutica ' was a simple whip, while the ' flagel- 
lum • was probably an instrument of shocking severity, the lash being made 
of cords or thongs of leather, or the raw hide of an ox. The ' flagellum ' 
is thought to have been generally used for the torture of slaves, and 
is justly called by Horace, ' horribile flagellum,' as it was knotted with 
bones or pieces of metal, or terminated by hooks, in which case it was 
called by the name of ' scorpio.' The punishment was generally inflicted 
by another slave, who was called ' lorarius,' and death was frequently 
the result. 

16 Surpassing glories.] — Ver. 83. This distich is also suspected by 
Heinsius to be spurious. Deianira alludes to the pomp and magnificence 
of the triumphs of Hercules, that the idea of his lying prostrate at the 
feet of his mistress, may, by the contrast, appear the more ridiculous. 

17 Tegecean boar. 2 — Ver. 87. Tegeasa was in Arcadia. The Eryman- 
thian boar was brought alive by Hercules to Eurystheus. 

18 The serpent, too.] — Ver. 95. This was the Hydra of Lerna, from 
whose body whenever one head was cut off, two sprang up from the blood 
in its place. Hercules overcame this difficulty, by causing Iolaus to apply 
a brand to the neck whence the head was cut, by which means the flow 
of the blood was stopped. 

19 Who hung.'] — Ver. 97. This is in allusion to Antaeus, whom Her- 
cules, to deprive him of the continual supply of strength which he re- 
ceived from his mother Earth, lifting him up with his left arm, strangled 
with his right. 



90 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. IX. 

The troop also of horsemen, 20 who, vainly trusting in their 
feet and their double-limbed figure, were driven from the 
mountain ridges of Thessaly ? 

Canst thou tell of all these things, when decked out 21 in the 
Sidonian garb 1 Is not thy tongue silent, shamed by this 
dress? The nymph, the daughter, too, of Iardanus, 22 has 
adorned herself with thy armour, and has carried off the well- 
known trophies 23 from the captive hero. Come now, arouse 
thy courage, and recount thy warlike deeds. Because thou 
wast not so rightfully, she has become the hero. Than her 
thou art as much inferior, as it was a greater thing for her 
to conquer thee, the greatest man in the world, than to con- 
quer men whom thou thyself hast conquered. To her accrues 
the renown of thy exploits. Yield thy advantages ; thy mis- 
tress is the inheritor of thy fame. 

For shame ! Has the rough hide torn from the ribs of the 
shaggy lion covered her soft sides ? Thou art deluded, and 

20 Of horsemen.'] — Ver. 100. When Hercules was on his road, for the 
purpose of capturing the Erymanthian boar, he was hospitably entertained 
by Pholus the Centaur, the son of Silenus and of the Nymph Melia. The 
Centaur set before his guest roasted meat, though he himself fared on it 
in a raw state. Hercules asking for wine, Pholus told him that he was 
afraid to open the jar, which was the common property of the Centaurs ; 
but upon being pressed by the hero, he consented to unclose it for him. 
The fragrance of the wine spread throughout the mountain, and soon 
brought all the Centaurs, armed with stones and staves, to the cave of 
Pholus. Anchius and Agrius, the first who ventured to enter, were driven 
back by Hercules with burning brands ; and he pursued the remainder with 
his arrows to the Malian promontory, in the South of the Peloponnesus. 
Eurytion fled to Pholoe, Nessus to the river Evenus, and Neptune took 
the rest into his protection. When Hercules returned to the cave of 
Pholus, he found his entertainer lying dead among several others ; for, 
having drawn the arrow out of the body of one of them, while he was 
wondering how so small an object could destroy beings of such magnitude, 
it dropped out of his hand, and sticking in his foot, he died instantly of 
the wound. Hercules buried him, and then set out to hunt the boar, the 
object of his search. 

21 When decked out.'] — Ver. 102. See the comical story of the mis- 
take made by Faunus, in consequence of this interchange of garments by 
Hercules and Omphale, related in the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 307, et seq. 

32 Of Iardanus.] — Ver. 103. Omphale was the daughter of Iardanus, 
King of Lydia. 

26 Well-known trophies.] — Ver. 104. Many copies have ' bina tropsea,' 
making one trophy refer to his love, the other to the spoils with which she 
had decked herself. 



EP. IX.] DElAKTEA TO HERCULES. ~ 91 

thou knowest it not ; that is not the spoil of the lion, but 
thine own ; and thou art the conqueror of the monster ; she, of 
thee. A woman has wielded the weapons black with the venom 
of the Lernaean Hydra, who was hardly well fitted to support 
the loaded distaff ; she has armed her hand too with the club 
of the subduer of wild beasts, and in a mirror has she viewed 
the arms of her spouse. Still, these things I only heard ; and 
it was permitted me not to believe report. Lo ! the softened 
grief 24 is removed from my ears to my feelings. Before my 
eyes is brought a foreign rival, 25 and I am not permitted to 
conceal from myself what I suffer. Thou allowest me not to 
shun her ; through the midst of the city the captive comes, 
to be beheld by my unwilling eyes : and she comes not, after 
the wont of captives, 26 with dishevelled locks, confessing her 
fate by concealing her features. She enters, 27 conspicuous 
far and wide, with plenteous gold ; 28 just as in Phrygia 29 thou 
too wast attired. High does she carry her head among the 
throng subdued by Hercules ; you would suppose that, her 
parent alive, (Echalia was still standing. 

Perhaps, too, the iEtolian 30 Deianira being repudiated, the 
name of concubine laid aside, she will be thy wife ; and a 

24 Softened grief .~\— Ver.120. 'Mollis' here means •molliued.'or'softened.' 
Deianira is not willing to provoke her husband beyond redress ; and, 
therefore, after having thrown out against him keen reproaches, she en- 
deavours to soothe him, by showing her readiness to discredit mere reports 
to his disadvantage ; or, at least, she laments that she has had in other in- 
stances, too strong and sensible proofs of his baseness and inconstancy. 

25 A foreign rival'] — Ver. 121. She alludes tolole, the present favour- 
ite of Hercules. 

26 Wont of captives.'] — Ver. 125. She alludes to the taking of (Echa- 
lia, the native place of Iole, and the fact of Hercules having led her cap- 
tive, and complains that, on that occasion, she did not present herself 
in the guise of a captive, with her hair dishevelled. 

27 She enters.] — Ver. 127. It has been well observed, that the words 
' late' and 'ingreditur' are very skilfully used here, as indicating the careless- 
ness and freedom of the air which Iole, the captive, assumed on finding 
the conquest she had made of the victorious Hercules. 

28 Plenteous geld.] — Ver. 127. Probably, by 'lato auro,' are meant 
broad hems of embroidered gold. 

29 As in Phrygia.] — Ver. 128. She alludes to the time when Hercules 
was with Omphale in Lydia, clothed in female apparel ; and thus she deals 
a two-fold blow at the same moment. 

30 Mtolian.] — Ver. 131. Deianira was the daughter of the king of 
jEtolia. 



92 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. EX. 

shameful marriage will unite the disgraced bodies of Iole, the 
daughter of Eurytus, and of the infatuated Alcides. My mind 
shudders at the apprehension, and a chill creeps over my 
limbs, and my hands, becoming numbed, lie upon my lap. 
Me, too, along with many others, didst thou love, but me with- 
out a crime ; take it not amiss, that twice I was the cause of a 
contest for thee. Acheloiis, 32 weeping, gathered up his horns 
on his watery banks, and concealed his mutilated temples in 
the muddied water. Nessus, the half-man, 32 lay dead in the 
fatal Evenus : and the blood of the horse-man stained its 
waters. 

But why am I mentioning these things ? As I write, report 
comes, bearing the tidings, that my husband is perishing 
through the venom in my garment. 33 Ah me ! what have I 
done? Whither has madness impelled me in my love? Unnatural 
Deianira, why dost thou hesitate to die ? And shall thy hus- 
band be rent in pieces in the midst of (Eta? 34 And shalt 

31 Acheloiis.'] — Ver. 139. Acheloiis was the son of Oceanus and Terra ; 
or, according to some writers, of Thetis. He had obtained this property 
from his mother, that with whomsoever he might engage, he should have it 
in his power to assume whatever form he should choose. Contending 
with Hercules for the hand of Deianira, he fought first in the shape of a 
serpent, and then of a bull. He was at length overcome, and one of 
his horns was torn off in the contest. See the Ninth Book of the Meta- 
morphoses. 

33 The half -man."] — Ver. 141. She alludes to the Centaur Nessus, 
whom Hercules pierced with an arrow, because in passing over the river 
£venus, he attempted to carry off Deianira. The story is related at length 
Jn the Metamorphoses. 

ys In my garment.] — Ver. 144. This was the tunic poisoned with the 
blood of the Lernaean Hydra, and of Nessus the Centaur. Hercules, 
after overcoming the Hydra, dipped some arrows in its blood, that with 
them he might ensure a mortal wound. It was with one of these poisoned 
arrows that he pierced Nessus ; who, finding himself on the point of 
expiring, and wishing that his death might not pass unrevenged, called 
Deianira, and advised her, if she hoped to secure her husband's love, to dip 
a garment in the blood that flowed from his wound. Deianira listened 
to his advice, and, on hearing that Hercules was captivated by the charms 
of lole, sent the garment to him. He had no sooner put it on, than, con- 
sumed to the bones by the virulence of the poison, he threw himself 
on the funeral pile, and caused fire to be set to it. The whole story 
js related at considerable length in the Ninth Book of the Metamor- 
phoses. 

3i Midst of (Eta.] — Ver. 147. CEta was a mountain of Thessaly, where, 



EP. IX. J EElAXIEA TO HEECELES. 93 

thou, the cause of wickedness so great, survive? If I still 
possess any means of acting, so as to be believed the wife 01 
Hercules, death shall be my confirmation of our union. 
Thou too, Meleager, shalt recognize in me thy sister. 35 Un- 
natural Deianira, why dost thou hesitate to die ? 35 Alas ! ill- 
fated house ! Agrios is seated 37 on the lofty throne ; a be- 
reaved old age weighs down the forlorn (Eneus. Tydeus, my 
brother, is an exile on shores unknown ; 38 another, while 
living, was amid the fatal flames. Through her entrails did 
my mother thrust the sword. 39 Unnatural Deianira, why dost 
thou hesitate to die ? 

This thing alone do I plead in my own behalf, by the most 
hallowed ties of our union, that I may not appear to have 
contrived thy death. Nessus, when 40 his eager breast was 
transfixed with the shaft, 41 said, " This blood contains a 

by the admonition of the oracle, the pile was erected on which Hercules 
was consumed. 

35 Me thy sister.] — Ver. 151. Inasmuch as her brother, Meleager, met 
with his death on account of his passion for Atalanta, so is it befitting 
that she should die in consequence of her extreme and reckless passion 
for Hercules. 

36 Hesitate to die.] — Ver. 152. This is what the critics call 'versus 
intercalaris,' and is four times repeated by Deianira as the burden or re- 
frain of her lamentations. Virgil, in his Eclogues, has a similar instance : 
4 Incipe Msenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus.' 

37 Agrios is seated.] — Ver. 153. Agrios, the brother of (Eneus, taking 
advantage of the disasters in his brother's family, invaded the kingdom of 
^Etolia, and made himself master of it. This is justly recounted by 
Deianira among the calamities of her house. 

38 Shores unknown.] — Ver. 154, It has been remarked that 'ignotis,' 
'- unknown,' cannot well be the correct reading here, as it was known 
that Tydeus had fled to Argos. Heinsius suggests the reading « Ina- 
chiis,' which was an epithet given to Argos from Inachus, one of its 
former kings. Her brother, Tydeus, having slain his uncle, or, according 
to Hyginus, his brother Menahppus, while hunting, fled to Adrastus, the 
king of Argos, whose daughter Deiphile he afterwards married. 

39 Thrust the sword.] — Ver. 147. According to this account, Althaea 
stabbed herself; but Diodorus Siculus says, that, overcome with remorse 
for having caused the death of her son Meleager, she committed self- 
destruction by hanging herself. 

40 Nessus, when.] — Ver. 161. She implores to be acquitted of the 
suspicion of having intentionally caused her husband's death. 

41 With the shaft.] — Ver. 161. ' Arundo,' which literally signifies a 
reed, is here used for ' sagitta,' as the shaft of the arrow was frequently 
formed of a reed. Hesiod describes three parts of the arrows of Hercules, 



94 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEBOIFES. [EP. X. 

power over love. 5 ' To thee I sent a robe stained with the poison 
of Nessus. Unnatural De'ianira, why dost thou hesitate to 
die ? And now farewell, both my aged father, and my sister, 
Gorge, 43 and thou, my country, and thou, my brother, torn 
away from thy country ; thou also, the light of this day, the 
closing light to my eyes, my husband, too, (oh ! that thou 
couldst ! 43 ) and Hyilus, my child, farewell ! 



EPISTLE X. 
ARIADNE TO THESEUS. 

Minos, the son of Jupiter and Europa, incensed against the Athenians for 
the murder of his son Androgeus, made war upon them, and at last 
obliged them to sue for peace, on the condition of their sending each year 
seven youths and as many virgins, to be devoured by the Minotaur, the 
offspring of Pasiphae. The lot falling on Theseus, on his arrival in 
Crete, he slew the Minotaur ; and being instructed by Ariadne how to 
escape from the Labyrinth, he fled with her to the isle of Naxos, 
or of Dia. There, according to some accounts, at the desire of Bac- 
chus, he deserted Ariadne, and carried Phaedra, her sister, (whom he had 
also taken away from Crete) with him to Athens. Ariadne, having 
been left behind in a deep sleep, on awaking, finds herself deserted, 
and is supposed then to write the present Epistle, in which she accuses 
him of perfidy and inhumanity, and, after recounting the kindnesses she 
has shown to him, entreats him to return. 

She, perjured Theseus, 44 who was left a prey to the wild 

the head or point, the shaft, and the feather. The heads of the arrows 
of the ancients were often made of flint. The Scythians used them of 
bronze, and the Greeks did the same. They were often three-sided, to 
make the wound larger and more dangerous. Barbed and poisoned arrows 
were used among the barbarous nations of antiquity. Ovid, in his Tristia 
and Pontic Epistles, mentions this fact in relation to the Sauromatse and 
the Getae, who lived in the neighbourhood of Tomi, the place of his exile. 
We learn from other writers that the Arabs, Moors, and Scythians, used 
the same barbarous practice. The arrows were long, light and smooth ; 
and being frequently made of a cane or reed, thence received the name of 
* arundo,' or ' calamus.' The arrows of Hercules were said to have been 
feathered from the wings of a black eagle. 

42 Sister, Gorge.'] — Ver. 165. Gorge was her sister, being a daughter 
of (Eneus and Althea. 

4j That thou couldst.'] — Ver. 168. ' Sed o possis !' The meaning is, 
1 Oh ! that thou really couldst fare well.' 

44 Perjured Theseus.] These two lines in the older editions, and in 
some of the MSS., commence this Epistle : — 



EP. X.] AKIAD3E TO THESE¥S, 95 

beasts, even yet survives : and you could wish her to endure 
this with calmness. 

I have found 45 the whole race of wild beasts more merciful 
than thyself : to none could I have been more unsafely trusted 
than to thee. What thou art reading, 46 I send thee, Theseus, 
from those shores, whence, without me, its sails bore thy bark ; 
on which, both my sleep fatally betrayed me, and thou thyself, 
who shamefully didst watch the opportunity of my slumbers. 

It was the season, at which the earth is first besprinkled 
with the glassy hoar frost, and the birds, concealed by the 
leaves, utter their complaints. Uncertain whether awake, and 
languid with sleep, half reclining, I moved my hands to clasp 
my Theseus. No Theseus was there; my hands I drew back, 
and again I stretched them forth : and along the couch did I 
move my arms ; no one was there. Apprehensions dispelled 
sleep : alarmed, I arose ; and my limbs were hurried from my 
deserted couch. Immediately, my breast resounded with the 
striking of my hands ■ and just as they were dishevelled from 
sleep, my locks were torn. The Moon was up : I looked out 
to see if I could perceive any thing but the shore : my eyes 
had nothing to behold but the sea-shore. Now this way, now 
that, and both ways, without method, did I run ; the deep 

' Ilia relicta feris etiam nunc, iraprobe Theseu, 
Vivit, et haec aequa. mente tulisse velis.' 
But, from their meagreness, they are considered by Heinsius and other 
Commentators to be spurious. 

45 I have found. ,] — Ver. 1. The whole of this Epistle is an expostu- 
lation with Theseus for his cruelty and ingratitude. She begins, there- 
fore, with reproaching him as being more cruel than the fiercest beasts. 
She has felt the effects of his barbarity, in his desertion of her, whereas, 
hitherto, the wild beasts have given her nc disturbance. 

46 Thou art reading.'] — Ver. 3. Apollonius Rhodius, in the Fourth Book 
of his Argonautics, says that Dia was the island on which Ariadne was 
deserted by Theseus. Others, among whom is Plutarch, say tbat sbe was 
left in the island of Naxos. Hyginus, in his Fables, gives the following 
statement: ; Theseus being detained by a tempest in the island of Dia, 
thinking that if he took Ariadne with him to his own country, she might 
disgrace him, left her asleep in the island of Dia. Bacchus, falling in love 
with her, took her to be his wife. Theseus, on setting sail, forgot to 
change his black sails [for white ones] ; ^Egeus, therefore, supposing that 
Theseus had been devoured by the Minotaur, threw himself into the 
waves, which thence derived the name of the iEgean Sea. Theseus after- 
wards married Pha.-dra, the sister of Ariadne.' Some writers think that 
Dia was another name of the isle of Naxos. 



96 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOENES. [EP. X. 

3and 47 retarded my feminine steps. Meanwhile, as I shouted 
" Theseus !" along all the shore, the hollow rocks reechoed with 
thy name • and as oft as I called on thee, so oft did that spot 
call thee by name ; the spot itself was wishful to give aid to 
wretched me. 

There was a mountain : 48 a few shrubs were seen on its 
summit : hence, a rock, hollowed out, hung over the hoarse 
waves. This I ascended, (my passion gave me strength) and 
thus, far and wide did I survey the deep sea with my gaze. 
Thence did I see (for even by the cruel winds have I been ill 
used) thy canvass swelled by the precipitate South wind. 
Either I did see this, 49 or even, when I was imagining I saw it, I 
was colder than ice, and half dead with despair. Grief did not 
long allow me to be motionless : at this I was aroused, yes, I 
was aroused: and with my loudest voice I called upon Theseus. 
" Whither art thou flying ?" I exclaimed, " perjured Theseus, 
return ; change the course of thy ship : she contains not her 
complement." 50 Thus said I ; 51 what was wanting in words 
I made up in beating my bosom : with my words 52 were blows 

47 The deep sand.'] — Ver. 20. Sand, when half dry, yields to the pres- 
sure of the feet, and speedily fatigues them. 

48 A ■mountain.'] — Ver. 25. Catullus, Poem lxiv. 1. 126, says that the 
name of this mountain was Dryos, and that thither Ariadne was afterwards 
taken by Bacchus. 

4a / did see this.] — Ver. 30. It is natural to suppose that the concern of 
Ariadne would readily lead her to exaggerate her misfortunes. She was 
left by herself on an unknown and desolate island ; when she ran down to 
the shore, she found that the ship had sailed, and was on its way. Her sad 
case was then irretrievable, and her imagination multiplied the dangers. 
She accuses the winds of having conspired against her, and as having 
been too favourable to the fatal project of Theseus : even now, she says, 
they seemed striving to bear the vessel out of sight. 

50 Her complement.] — Ver. 36. ' Your ship has not her full number on 
board : for Ariadne, whom she brought with her from Crete, is not on 
board.' 

51 Thus said I.] — Ver. 37. The unhappy circumstances of Ariadne are 
here painted with great spirit and life. Ovid shows extreme skill in de- 
picting the violent emotions and transports of the mind, arising from a 
sudden conflict of the passions. Her surprise on awaking and missing The- 
seus, then running instantly to the shore, her despair on seeing his ship 
under sail, her accusations of the winds, her exclamations, and the beat- 
ing of her breast, are all so many symptoms of a heart pierced with 
grief, from the sense of losing what is most dear and valuable. 

bi With my words.] — Ver. 38. 'Verbera cum verbis,' 'Blows with 



EP. X.J AKIADKE TO THESEUS. 97 

intermingled. If thou couldst not hear, my hands waved 
aloft gave the signal, that, at least, thou mightst be able to 
perceive me. I placed, too, a white robe upon along stick, to 
remind those who, forsooth, had forgotten me. 

And now thou wast withdrawn from my eyes : then at length 
did I weep : my tender cheeks before had grown rigid with 
grief. What could my eyes do better than lament my state, 
after they had ceased to look upon thy sails 1 Either I wan- 
dered alone, with dishevelled locks, just as a Bacchanal in- 
spired by the Ogygian Deity; 53 or else, looking down upon the 
sea, I sat, chilled, upon the cliff ; and, as much a rock was I, 
as my seat was a rock. Often did I repair to the bed, which 
had received us both : but it was not again to show those it 
had so received. And, wherever I could, in place of thyself, 
I touched thy impress, and the bed 54 which had been warmed 
by thy limbs. I laid me down, 55 and, the couch drenched with 
my flowing tears, I exclaimed, " We two have pressed thee : 
bring back those two. Hither we both have come ; why do 

words.' Ovid never loses the opportunity of a play upon words, or a 
smooth piece of alliteration. Even the grief of Ariadne cannot be proof 
against so strong a temptation. 

53 Ogygian Deity. ,] — Ver. 48. Bacchus was the son of Semele, the 
daughter of Cadmus, who founded the city of Thebes, in Bceotia. Ogyges 
was an ancient king of Bceotia, whom Pausanias calls avroxOwv, ' or sprung 
from the earth.' He says that his people being destroyed by a pestilence, 
the country was repeopled by the Hyantes and the Aones, up to the 
period of the arrival of Cadmus, by whom Thebes was founded. 

54 And the bed.] — Ver. 54. The ' strata,' which we generally call ' bed- 
clothes,' consisted of blankets or counterpanes, which, among the Romans, 
were often of a very costly description. These were called ' vestes stra- 
gulae,' ' stragula,' ' peristromata,' and ' peripetasmata.' The cloth or tick- 
ing of which the beds or mattresses were made, was called ' toral,' ' torale,' 
' linteum ' or ' segestre.' Pillows called ' lecticae,' were also used on the 
beds. 

55 / laid me down.~\ — Ver. 55. Nothing can be more happily conceived, 
than this description of the behaviour of Ariadne. The whole picture is 
extremely natural, and suits so well her present situation, that a reader 
is apt to think that she coidd not have acted otherwise, and fancies that 
the same sentiments must occur to every one when placed in a similar 
position ; a sure sign that the description is faithful to nature and truth. 
Horace admirably describes this test of true poetry in his Art of Poetry : 

' Ut sibi quivis 

Speret idem, sudet rnultum frustraque laboret 
Ausus idem.' 

H 



98 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOINES. |_ EP - X * 

we not both depart ? Perfidious couch, where is the more 
valued half of us?" What shall I do ? 56 Whither, deserted, 
betake myself ? The island is without cultivation : I see no 
traces of men, none of oxen. The sea surrounds every side 
of the land ; nowhere is there a mariner : no ship to go upon 
its veering path. Suppose both companions, and winds, and 
a ship to be granted me ; what shall I attempt ? My native 
land denies me access. Suppose, in a bark favourably speed- 
ing, I traverse the appeased seas ; though iEolus should 
moderate the winds, I shall be an exile. 

Crete, I shall not behold thee, divided into thy hundred 
cities, 57 a land known to Jove in his childhood. For my 
father, and the land ruled by my great parent, names so dear, 
have been betrayed bymy agency ; at the time when, for thy guid- 
ance, I gave thee the clue which was to guide thy footsteps, 
that thou victorious mightst not perish in the winding abode ; 58 
when thou didst say to me, " By these very dangers do I 
swear that thou shalt be my own, while each of us shall sur- 

56 What shall I do . ? ] — Ver. 59. The island being uninhabited and un- 
cultivated, the cruelty of Theseus was the more remarkable. 

57 Hundred cities.] — Ver. 67. The hundred cities of the isle of Crete 
are often mentioned in the writings of the ancients ; and for this proof of 
its populousness. it was especially famous. The notion most probably 
took its rise from Homer ; but we may suppose, that the small towns, and 
even villages, were included in that number. 

58 Winding abode. ~\ — Ver. 71. She means the Labyrinth, from which 
Theseus extricated himself, after he had conquered the Minotaur, by 
means of a clue which he had received from her. Although the Cretan 
Labyrinth is repeatedly mentioned by ancient authors, yet none of them 
speak as having ever seen it ; indeed, Diodorus Siculus and Pliny the 
Elder expressly state that not a trace of it was to be seen in their days. 
This fact, together with the extreme difficulty of accounting for the rea- 
sons which could have induced the king of an island of but moderate size 
to construct such a building, have induced most modern writers to 
doubt the existence of the Cretan Labyrinth. This opinion is sup- 
ported, not only by the testimonies of some of the ancients, but, in some 
measure, by the peculiar nature of the island. The author of the 'Etymolo- 
gicum Magnum' calls the Cretan Labyrinth ' a mountain with a cavern -,' 
and Eustathius, in his Commentary on the Odyssey, Book xi., calls it ' a 
subterraneous cavern.' Such caverns still exist in some parts of Crete, 
especially in the neighbourhood of the ancient town of Gortys ; perhaps 
some such cavern in the neighbourhood of Cnossus, where Minos resided, 
gave rise to the story of a Labyrinth built there in his reign. The word 
' Labyrinth' is supposed to be of Greek origin, though an Egyptian deri- 
vation has been suggested by some scholars. 



EP. X.] AETADXE TO THESEUS. 99 

vive." We do survive ; and, Theseus, I am not thine ; if 
only thou dost survive, a woman, entombed by the treachery of 
thy perjured husband. Me too, perjured man, thou shouldst 
have slain with the club with which thou didst slay my bro- 
ther; the vow which thou hadst uttered would have been 
cancelled by my death. 69 Now, not only do I bring to mind 
the things which I am destined to suffer, but whatever any 
female, when deserted, can endure. A thousand shapes 60 of 
destruction suggest themselves to my mind ; and death is a 
less punishment than the delay of death. 

Each moment do I apprehend that, this way or that, the 
wolves are about to come to tear my entrails with ravening 
teeth. Perhaps, too, this land nourishes tawny lions ; 
who knows whether this isle does not contain the savage 
tigers? The seas, also, are said to send forth huge sea- 
calves : C1 what prevents the sword, 62 too, from piercing my 
side ? Only may I not, as a captive, 63 be bound in cruel 
chains ; and may I not with the hand of servitude draw out 
my weary task — I, whose father is Minos, whose mother is the 
daughter of Phoebus ; and, what I better recollect, I, who was 
promised to thee. If I behold the sea, the earth and the ex- 

59 By my death, .] — Ver. 78. The note of Crispinus on this passage is 
worth transcribing : ' Because Theseus had only plighted his faith as long 
as both of them were living. — The idea is an ingenious one ; as though 
he had been guilty of such a crime, that, had he slain his wife, he would 
have then appeared to keep his word: 

60 A thousand shapes, .] — Ver. 81. She saysthatdeathpresentshimself before 
her imagination in a thousand shapes. She finds herself left on a desolate 
island, without even one person to protect her ; and, as she apprehends, 
surrounded with wild beasts. We must not wonder, then, if she is alarmed 
by the apprehension of dangers that may turn out to be imaginary. Such 
fear is natural and fully to be expected, under the circumstances of the 
case. 

61 Huge sea-calves.] — Ver. 87. Pliny says, that the sleep of the seal, or 
sea-calf, is sounder than that of any other animal. 

63 The sivord.~\ — Ver. 88. This, of course, as the island was uninhabited, 
must mean the sword of any person who might chance to land there, such 
as pirates, or other lawless characters. 

03 As a captive.'] — Ver. 90. Slavery is what she is most in dread of. 
It appears shameful for her, the daughter of a king and a descendant of 
Phoebus, and, above all, one who has been united to Theseus, to be made 
a captive, and to be subjected to the imperious humour of a mistress, 
who, without regard to her birth, may require the most servile submis- 
sion and obedience. 

H 2 



100 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. X. 

tended shore, greatly is the land threatening to me, greatly 
the seas. The heavens still remain : 64 I dread the forms of 
the Gods. I am left a prey and a food for ravening wild 
beasts. Or, if men cultivate and inhabit this place, them 
do I distrust : once a sufferer, I have learned to dread strange 
men. 65 

Would that Androgeus 66 had lived ; and that thou, land of 
Cecrops, hadst not atoned for thy impious deeds, by the 
death of thy natives ! that thy right hand, too, Theseus, 
lifted on high, had not slain with the knotted club him who 
was, partly a man, partly a bull ! And would that I had 
not given thee the clue to show thee how to return ; the 
thread so oft wound up by thy tightened hands ! For my 
part, I wonder not that victory rests with thee, and the pros- 
trate monster stained with its blood the Cretan ground. A 
heart of iron could not be pierced by his horn ; even though 
thou hadst not covered thyself, with thy breast thou wast 
safe. There dost thou bear flint, there, too, adamant. 67 There, 
Theseus, thou hast that which surpasses flint-stones. Cruel 
slumbers, 68 why did you keep me in unconsciousness ? Rather 
ought I, at once, to have been overwhelmed with eternal night. 
You, too, cruel winds, and far too well prepared against me; and 
you, ye breezes, ready causes of my tears. 

6i Still remain.'} — Ver. 95. Burmann thinks that this line is spurious, 
and that the original one has been lost. Ariadne may mean hy the ex- 
pression ' simulacra Deorum,' either the various frightful or fanciful forms 
into which the Gods were in the habit of changing themselves, or, perhaps, 
the Constellations, which were known under the names of serpents, Cen- 
taurs, and other monsters. 

65 Strange men.} — Ver. 98. The ill-usage which she has received at 
the hands of strangers, makes her suspicious and distrustful. In so say- 
ing, she intends especially to reflect on Theseus, who was a stranger to 
her native country, and had deceived and forsaken her. 

68 Androgeus. — Ver. 99. She wishes that her brother, Androgeus, had 
not been slain by iEgeus ; and that the penalty had not been imposed by 
Minos upon the Athenians, of sending yearly the young men and virgins 
to be devoured by the Minotaur. 

67 Adamant.} — Ver. 109. 'Adamas' means 'adamant,' and, figu- 
ratively, any thing extremely hard or inpenetrable. The Greek word 
dda/idg, in Homer, is supposed to mean ' steel.' Our word ' diamond ' is 
a corruption of the word ' adamant.' 

68 Cruel slumbers.} — Ver. 111. Nothing could be more natural than 
to represent her as inveighing against sleep, during which Theseus took 
the opportunity of deserting her 



EP. X.] AEIADKE TO THESEUS. J 01 

Cruel was the right hand, which has slain both myself and 
my brother ; 65 andyow, vows, an empty name, plighted at my 
request. Against me conspired sleep, and the winds, and vows ; 
but one maiden, by three causes was I betrayed. And shall I 
then, 70 when about to die, behold no tears of my mother ? And 
will there be no hand to close my eyes ? Will my mournful 
soul 71 go forth in foreign air? and will no friendly hand anoint 72 

69 My brother.'] — Ver, 115. Like her sister Phaedra, she is not ashamed 
to acknowledge, her relationship to this monster, and to complain that 
Theseus had put him to death. 

70 Shall I then.'} — Ver. 119. The particle 'ergo' is not here intro- 
duced as drawing towards a conclusion, but because she is full of indig- 
nation. She is unable, without horror, to reflect on her desolate situation. 
It brings back all her miseries to her mind, and occasions a sad remem- 
brance of those enjoyments of which she is now, apparently for ever, 
deprived. 

71 Mournful soul. ] — Ver. 121. Crispinus thinks that this manner of 
speaking, in Ariadne, proceeds from her innocent simplicity, as though 
she thought that, thus dying at a distance from her friends, her spirit would 
be doomed to wander through strange regions of air. Her soul would, 
according to the belief of the ancients, be especially ' infelix,' as, her body 
being unburied, it would have to hover about the banks of the Styx for a 
hundred years. 

72 Hand anoint."] — Ver. 122. The following rites are said to have been 
performed by the Greeks, immediately after the death of a person. It was 
the custom at once to place in his mouth an ' obolus,' or small coin, with 
which he might pay Charon, whose duty it was to ferry him over the 
river Styx to the Shades. The body was then washed and anointed with 
perfumed oil, and the head w r as crowned with such flowers as might be in 
season. The deceased was then dressed in a handsome robe, in order 
that, according to Lucian, he might not be cold on his passage to the 
Shades, or be seen by Cerberus in a state of nudity. These duties were 
performed by the women of the family. The corpse was afterwards laid 
out on a bed, with a pillow supporting the head and back, and by the 
side of the bed were placed earthen vessels, which were buried with the 
body. Among the Romans, immediately after death, those who were 
present called on the deceased by name, or made a loud noise, for the 
purpose of recalling the person to life, if he should be only in a trance. 
The corpse was then taken from the bed, and washed with warm water, 
perhaps to try to restore it to life. When so removed from the bed, the 
body was said to be ' depositus.' Ovid says, in the Tristia, Book iii. El. 
iii. 1. 40 : ' depositum nee me qui fleat ullus erit ?' — ' will there be no 
one to lament me, laid out ?' The funeral was then ordered of the ' Libi- 
tinarius,' or ' undertaker.' These persons were so called from ' Venus 
Libitina,' near whose temple their establishments were situated. The 
Libitinarii furnished the ' pollinctores,' ' vespillones,' ' praeficze,' and other 
requisites for the funeral, at a certain rate of payment. The business of 



102 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOINES. [EP. X. 

my limbs, laid out ? Shall the sea birds stand upon my un- 
buried bones ? Is that a sepulchre worthy of my deserts ? Thou 
wilt repair to the Cecropian harbour, and, received into thy 
country, when thou shalt be standing aloft, in the citadel of 
thy city, and shalt be joyously telling of the death of him, both 
bull and man, and the rocky abode, divided into intricate pas- 
sages ; relate, as well, how I was abandoned in a solitary 
land ; I must not be omitted amid thy exploits. Surely 
iEgeus is not thy father, 73 and thou art not the son of 
iEthra, the daughter of Pittheus : the rocks and 'the ocean are 
thy parents. Oh ! that the Gods had granted that thou hadst 
beheld me from the stern 74 of thy ship ! My mournful figure 
would have moved thy eyes. 

Even now, regard me, not with thy eyes, but, as thou 
canst with thy imagination, hanging over the rocks which 
the dashing waves beat against. Behold the dishevelled 
hair over my features as I weep ; my garments, too, heavy 

the ' pollinctor,' who was a slave, was to anoint the body with oil and per- 
fumes. The corpse was then clad in a garment suitable to his rank ; 
but free persons always wore the ' toga,' and those of magisterial rank, 
who wore the ' toga prsetexta,' were buried in it. When the ' pollinctor ' 
had completed his task, the corpse was laid on a bed. which was often 
strewed with flowers. A branch of Cyprus was usually placed at the 
door of the house, if the deceased was a person of consequence, and a 
censer was placed near the bed on which the body lay. It is doubtful 
whether a small coin was placed in the hand or mouth of the corpse, as 
among the Greeks. 

73 Not thy father.'] — Ver. 131. It has been remarked that this censure 
of Ariadne is well founded, inasmuch as, by many, Theseus was considered 
to be the son, not of iEgeus, but of Neptune ; and the poets generally 
depict the offspring of Neptune, as being of cruel and repulsive cha- 
racter. ' iEgeus,' she probably means to say, ' was susceptible of the 
tender passion ; whereas, so far from being capable of loving, you are des- 
titute of common humanity.' 

74 From the stern.'] — Ver. 133. She appropriately mentions the stern, 
4 puppis,' because it was elevated above the other parts of the deck, and 
on it the helmsman had his seat. It was rounder than the prow, and, like 
it, was adorned in various ways, but especially with the image of the tute- 
lary Deity of ihe vessel. In some representations a kind of roof is formed 
over the head of the steersman, and the upper part of the stern often 
had an elegant ornament, called ' aplustre,' which formed the highest 
part of the poop. It is not improbable that the form of it was borrowed 
from the tail of the fish. The ' aplustre,' rising behind the pilot, served, 
in some measure, to shelter him from the wind and rain. A lantern was 
sometimes suspended from it. 



EP. X.] AEIADNE TO THESEUS. 103 

with tears, as though with a shower. My body trembles like the 
standing corn, shaken by the North winds ; and the letters 
described by my trembling fingers are irregular. I do not en- 
treat thee by my deserts, since they have turned out to my 
disadvantage. Let there be no thanks due for my deeds. 
But still, 75 let there be no ill-treatment ; if I have not been 
the cause of thy safety, still, there is no reason why thou 
shouldst be the cause of my destruction. These hands, in my 
misery, do I extend to thee over the wide seas — hands wea- 
ried with beating my wretched breast. Of these tresses 76 
which remain to me, in my sorrow do I remind thee. By 
those tears do I entreat thee, which thy deeds excite ; turn, 
Theseus, the course of thy ship, and shifting thy sails, return. 
Should I first die, 77 still wilt thou collect my bones. 78 

75 But still.] — Ver. 143. Her meaning is, that if he will make no return 
for her kind offices, and if he shall think them to be unworthy of a 
recompense, yet that they are far from meriting that he should thus neg- 
lect and cruelly abandon her. 

76 Of these tresses.] — Ver. 147. Ariadne is endeavouring, by every 
argument, to move Theseus to pity, and, if possible, to prevail upon 
him to return. For this reason, she paints, in the strongest colours, her 
distressed situation, her fears and anxieties, and the treatment which she 
has experienced at her own hands during her paroxysms of despair. The 
whole forms such a natural picture of misery and suffering, that we cannot 
sufficiently admire the inventive imagination displayed by the Poet, in 
being thus able to assemble a set of ideas so well fitted to answer the pur- 
pose of exciting sympathy and commiseration. With even her bitterest re- 
proaches, she mingles tenderness and affection ; and we may easily perceive 
that love is the most deeply rooted in her heart, while her invectives are 
the result of impulse, and are prompted by a sense of injury. She concludes 
in a most affecting manner, by entreating him to return, if only to pay her 
the last duties, and to collect her scattered bones. — Of the fate of Ariadne, 
varying accounts are given ; but the most commonly received opinion 
makes her to have afterwards become the wife of Bacchus, by whom accord- 
ing to some accounts, Theseus had been advised or ordered to desert her. 
Ovid, in the Third Book of the Fasti, 1. 465, et seg., represents her as after- 
wards congratulating herself on having got rid of Theseus. ' What was I 
mourning for, like a country lass as I was ? It was a good thing for me 
that he was faithless.' And then, as being again reduced to the necessity 
of lamenting the faithlessness of Bacchus, who afterwards, on returning 
to her, places her, and the diadem which he had before given her, in 
the number of the Constellations. 

77 First die.] — Ver. 150. Pason of Amathus, an ancient author whose 
works are now lost, related how Theseus left Ariadne on an island, because 
she was wearied with her voyage, and that he afterwards returned and 



104 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XI. 

EPISTLE XL 

CANACE TO MACAREUS. 

Macareus and Canace, the son and daughter of iEolus, the God of the 
Winds, indulging a criminal passion for each other, concealed their 
familiarities under the pretence of consanguinity. At length, Canace, 
hecoming pregnant, was, by the contrivance of her nurse, secretly de- 
livered of a son; iEolus, sitting at that time in council, in his palace, 
the nurse attempted to carry out the child, under the pretence of 
being engaged in the celebration of certain sacred rites. But when 
she had almost made her way through the hall where iEolus was sit- 
ting, the unhappy infant betrayed itself to his grandfather by its crying. 
jEolus, surprised at the noise, on discovery of the truth, was greatly 
incensed at the impious conduct of his children, and commanded 
the babe to be exposed to wild beasts. After reflecting on the turpitude 
of her conduct, he sent an officer to Canace, with a drawn sword, and 
ordered her to use it in such a way as she was conscious her impiety 
deserved. With it she slew herself. Before she gives the fatal blow, 
she is supposed to write this Epistle to Macareus, who has taken refuge 
in the temple of Apollo. She represents her sorrows, inveighs against 
the cruelty of her father, and begs her brother to collect the bones of 
her infant, and to enclose them in the same urn with her own. 

The daughter of iEolus, to the son of iEolus, sends that 
health which she herself has not, and words penned with an 
armed hand. 

But if any 79 of the characters shall be indistinct through 

found her dead, and left a sum of money to ensure to her bones an 
honourable sepulture. Plutarch, in the life of Theseus, says that after the 
departure of Theseus, she married a priest of Bacchus, whose name was 
Onarus. Ion, a poet of Chios, mentioned (Enopius and Staphylus, as 
the names of two sons which she had by Theseus. 

78 Collect my bones.] — Ver. 150. Among the Romans, when the pile 
had been burnt down, it was the custom for the nearest relatives to collect 
the bones and ashes of the deceased into a mourning robe ; they then 
sprinkled them with wine, and again with milk, and afterwards dried 
them on a linen cloth. Perfumes were mingled with the ashes, which 
were placed in an urn of marble, alabaster, or baked clay. The collecting 
of the bones from the funeral pile was called ' ossilegium.' 

79 But if any."] — Ver. 1. The word 'tamen,' in this line, has induced 
some Commentators to put faith in the genuineness of these two lines, 
of which the translation is given above, 

iEolis iEolidae, quam non habetipsa salutem 
Mittit, et armata verba notata manu, 
but they are generally rejected as spurious. Indeed, on examination, we 



EP. XI.] CAFACE TO MACAKEUS. 105 

blots that obscure them, by the blood of its author will the 
letter be stained. My right hand holds the pen ; 80 the other 
wields a drawn sword ; and the paper is lying unfolded in my 
lap 81 This is the true picture of Ca?iace, the daughter of 
iEolus, 82 as she is writing to her brother : thus do I seem to 
be able to satisfy a hard-hearted father. I could wish that 
he himself were present, the spectator of my death, and that 
the deed were done before the eyes of him who enjoins it. As 
he is stern, and much more unrelenting than his own Eastern 
blasts, with dry cheeks would he have beheld my wounds. 
'Tis something, forsooth, 83 to dwell with the raging winds ; he 
is suited to the disposition of his subjects. He commands the 
South wind and the Zephyr, the Sithonian 84 North wind, too, 
and, boisterous Eurus, thy wings. 85 He controls the winds, 
alas ! he controls not his own furious wrath ; a realm does he 
possess, even less stormy than his own failings. 

shall find that this beginning is superfluous ; for Canace afterwards re- 
lates the matter fully, and her abrupt manner of beginning has a peculiar 
beauty, which would be completely lost by prefixing the above lines. 

80 Holds the pen.'] — Ver. 3. The ' calamus ' was a reed which the an- 
cients used as a pen for writing, when ' papyrus,' or the other substitutes 
for paper were used. The superior kinds of ' calami ' were obtained from 
iEgypt and Cnidos. When the reed became blunted with use, it was 
sharpened with a knife, which was called ' scalprum librarium.' They 
were used split, like our pens. The ink of the ancients was made from 
the lees of wine, or the black matter exuded by the ' sepia,' or cuttle-fish, 
and was more unctuous and durable than that used by us. The ink-stands 
were either single or double, and had covers to keep off the dust. 

61 In my lap.] — Ver. 4. The parchment on which she was writing 
is lying unfolded in her lap. This would seem to be a very awkward 
position ; but it is one which we often see represented in the old pictures 
of the Evangelists. 

82 Daughter of JEolus.] — Ver. 5. Servius, in his Commentary on the 
First Book of the .ZEneid, 1. 75, says, that Macareus and Canace were the 
children, not of iEolus, the God of the Winds, but of another person of 
the same name. This version, however, is not generally adopted by ancient 
writers. 

83 Something forsooth.] — Ver. 11. She here seemingly offers some 
excuse for her father's cruelty ; but it must be considered as expressed in 
a spirit of indignation and bitter irony. 

84 Sithonian.] — Ver. 13. Sithoniswas a mountain situate in the North 
of Thrace. 

85 Thy wings.]— Ver. 14. The Winds were feigned by the poets to 
have wings. 



] 06 THE EPISTLES OP THE HEROINES. [EP. XI. 

What avails it that, raised to the heavens by the titles of my 
ancestors, 86 I am able to recount Jove among my kindred ? Do 
I any the less, for that, wield in my feminine hand the destruc- 
tive sword, the fatal gift, no weapon suited to me ? Maca- 
reus, would that the hour which brought us together, had 
arrived later than my death ! Why, my brother, 87 didst thou 
ever love me, otherwise than as a brother 1 and why was I to 
thee that which a sister ought not to be 1 I, myself, caught 
the flame as well ; and as my breast warmed, I felt some God, 
I know not which, such I had been wont to hear of. Colour 
had fled from my features, leanness had shrivelled my limbs ; 
with reluctance 88 did my mouth receive the slightest nourish- 
ment. No gentle slumbers had I, and the night was as long 
as a year to me ; and, afflicted with no pain, I used to utter 
sighs. Why I did this, I was unable to tell myself the cause ; 
arid I knew not what it was to be one in love ; but I was so. 

First did my nurse b9 guess my malady in her aged mind ; 

86 Of my ancestors.'} — Ver. 17. Crispinus, the Delphin Editor, has the 
following remark on the use here of the word ' avorum,' ' ancestors.' " The 
word ' avorum/ used here in the plural number, seems designed not only 
to aid the versification, but to add a dignity to the thing itself. And 
yet, upon a closer examination, it has quite a contrary effect. For the 
nearer the Poet places Canace to Jupiter, the more illustrious would be her 
pedigree, and this he might (justly) have done, inasmuch as, according to 
some, iEolus was the son of Jupiter. But not to be too rash in passing a 
censure on the Poet, it must be owned that the race of iEolus is very ob- 
scure, and little known, and that the Mythologists differ very much in their 
opinions on the subject. The Poet then makes it his business to deduce 
Canace from Jupiter by a long line of ancestors, not only on the mother's, 
but on the father's side." According to some writers, iEolus was the son 
of Helen, whose father was Jupiter. 

87 My brother.'] — Ver. 23. iEolus was said, by some writers, to have 
had six sons, to whom he gave their sisters for wives. To this tradition, 
the incestuous Byblis alludes, in the Metamorphoses, Book ix. 1. 506. 
' But the sons of iEolus did not shun the embraces of their listers,' are 
her words, when she is seeking for a precedent whereby to justify her 
criminal desires. 

88 With reluctance.} — Ver. 28. She says that she has loathed food, and 
has swallowed it with reluctance. Canace's describing herself as wholly 
a stranger to love, and wondering at its effects, as not knowing whence 
they come, or how they are produced, are admirably depicted by the Poet. 

89 Did my nurse.'] — Ver. 33. The nurse is here the confidant of the 
lovesick damsel ; but, as there are degrees even in iniquity, notwithstand- 
ing her criminal attempts to promote abortion, she does not act quite so 
disgraceful a part as the nurse of Myrrha did, whose shocking story is 
related in the Tenth Book of the Metamorphoses. 



EP. XI.] CANACE TO MACAKEUS. 107 

first did my nurse say to me, " Daughter of iEolus, thou art in 
love." I blushed, and modesty directed my eyes upon my 
bosom ; these signs in one, that spoke not, were sufficiently 
the signs of one confessing. And now did the burden swell of 
my polluted womb, and the secret weight was pressing down my 
weakened limbs. What herbs, what drugs, 90 did not my nurse 
bring to me, and apply them with rash hand, that entirely 
(this alone did I conceal from thee) the increasing burden 
might be discharged from my womb ? Alas ! the infant, too 
tenacious of life, still remained, on the application of our reme- 
dies, and was secure in its abode 91 from the enemy. Now, 
nine times had the most beauteous sister of Phoebus risen, 
and the tenth Moon was guiding her steeds, bearers of her 
light. Some reason, I knew not what, caused me sudden 
pains. I was both a stranger to childbirth, and a mere 
novice. I suppressed not my cries. "Why," said she, 
"dost thou betray thy guilt?" and the old woman, my 
confidant, closed my lips 92 as I cried. 

What could I do 93 in my misery ? Pain compelled me to 
utter groans ; but fear, and my nurse, and very shame forbade 
me. I repressed my groans, and checked my words as they es- 
caped ; and I was forced, myself, to drink down my own tears. 
Death was before my eyes, and Lucina denied her aid ; and 
even death, had I expired, was a grievous crime. When, 
hanging over me, thy garments and thy locks dishevelled, 
thou didst warm my breast pressed close 94 to thine. And thou 

90 What drugs."] — Ver. 39. The newspaper reports of our day show 
that, even in a Christian world, there are too many, who, for lucre, are 
ready to tread the path of iniquity which was here trodden by the nurse of 
Canace. 

91 In its abode, .] — Ver. 44. She alludes not only to the attempts which 
the hag had made to procure abortion, but to the herbs and drugs them- 
selves, which had been administered to her. 

92 Closed my lips.~] — Ver. 50. This description may be pronounced 
to be natural in the extreme, indeed, painfully so. 

93 What could I do.] — Ver. 51. We have here a strong picture of 
the distress of the unfortunate Canace, at this particular moment. She 
is urged by contrary and powerful motives, pain on the one hand, and 
shame on the other. She endeavours to suppress her anguish, which it 
is not wholly in her power, with all her resolution, to stifle. 

94 Pressed close.] — Ver. 58. The whole of this scene, as here repre- 
sented, is very affecting. Canace is conscious of her guilt, and there- 
fore cannot attempt to vindicate herself. Her main object, then, is to 



108 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XI. 

didst say, " Live, sister, oh, dearest sister, live on, and in the 
body of one destroy not two. Let hopes for the best afford 
thee strength ; for of thy brother shalt thon be the wife ; of 
him by whom thou art a mother, thou shalt be the wife as 
well." Though dying, (believe me) still, at thy words, did I 
recover, and the guilt and burden of my womb was brought 
forth. 

Why dost thou 95 congratulate thyself? In the midst of 
the hall 96 is iEolus seated. The guilt must be removed 
from the eyes of my parent. The careful old woman con- 
ceals the infant amid corn, 97 and boughs of the white olive, 
and light fillets, and she celebrates feigned rites, and utters 
the words of prayer. The people make way 98 for the rites; 
my father, himself, makes way. Now, she was near the thresh- 
old ; the cry of the babe came to the ears of my father, and 
by its own evidence was it betrayed. iEolus seizes the 

move feelings of compassion, in which, to a wonderful degree, she suc- 
ceeds. By her pathetic representation of her distress, the reader's atten- 
tion is gradually withdrawn from the consideration of the enormity of 
her guilt, and he feels compassion take the place of deserved indig- 
nation. 

95 Why dost thou.] — Ver. 65. She here soliloquises and addresses her- 
self. ' Though you are safely delivered of your burden, the danger is far 
from being past. This crime must be most carefully concealed from your 
father JSolus, who will refuse you all forgiveness.' She then proceeds to 
describe the difficulty that attends this material point. The only way 
from her apartment lies through the hall, where iEolus is sitting in 
council ; and to carry away the babe, without a discovery, will be next to 
an impossibility. The nurse then devises an expedient, which, but for an 
unhappy accident, might have been attended with success. 

96 Midst of the hall] — Ver. 65. It must be remembered that, in 
general, most of the inner-rooms of the houses of the ancient Romans 
communicated with the ' atrium,' or room in the centre, so that to pass from 
thence to the exterior of the building, it would be necessary to pass through 
the 'atrium.' 

97 Amid corn.'] — Ver. 67. The corn which the nurse was pretending 
to carry for the purpose of sacrifice, was the parched barley-meal, mixed 
with salt, which was strewed on the head of the victim. The ' vittae,' or 
• fillets,' were used for adorning the horns of the victim, while the use of 
the olive branch was, perhaps, intended to signify that the sacrifice 
was about to be made in honour of Minerva, to whom it was sacred. 

,J8 People make way.~\ — Ver. 70. It was the custom on all occasions, 
and for all classes, to make way for a sacrificial procession, however 
humble ; and it was accounted the height of impiety to interrupt the so- 
lemnity. 



EP. XI.] CAtfACE TO MACAEEUS. 109 

child, and unveils the feigned solemnity ; the palace re- 
echoes with his raging voice. As the sea becomes shudder- 
ing when it is skimmed over by a light breeze ; as the twig 
of ash is shaken by the warm South wind ; so rnightst thou 
have beheld my pallid limbs to shiver ; the bed was shaken 
by my body laid upon it. He rushes in, and by his clamour 
he publishes my shame ; and hardly does he withhold his 
hands from my wretched face. Filled with shame, to nothing 
but tears did I give utterance ; my tongue, withheld by chilling 
fears, was benumbed. And now had he commanded his little 
grandchild to be thrown to dogs and to birds, and to be left 
in a desert spot. The wretched babe uttered cries (thou 
wouldst have thought it was sensible of it) ; and with what 
accents it could, it entreated its grandsire. What, my brother, 
couldst thou imagine my feelings then to have been (for from 
thy own feelings thou thyself art able to guess), when in my 
presence, my foe was carrying off my entrails into the dense 
woods, to be eaten by the wolves of the mountain ? 

He had departed from my chamber; 95 then at length 1 J was 
at liberty to bare my breast, and with my nails to attack my 
cheeks. In the meantime, a servant 2 of my father came with 
sorrowing countenance, and uttered with Ins lips these cruel 
accents : ''iEolus sends thee this sword," and he presented to 
me a sword ; " and commands thee to understand from thy 
guiltiness what it means." I do know ; and boldly will I 
wield the piercing sword ; the gift of my father will I bury 
in my breast. With these gifts, my parent, dost thou honour 
my nuptials ? With this dowry, my father, will thy daughter 
be enriched? Deluded Hymenseus, remove afar the nuptial 
torch ; and fly from these accursed abodes with hurried step. 

99 My chamber.] — Ver. 91. The ' thalamus,' or OaXatxdg of the 
Greeks, was properly the principal bedchamber of the house, and here 
seem to have been kept the principal valuable articles of ornament be- 
longing to the family. 

1 Then at length.] — Ver. 91. By 'tunc demum,' she means that she 
was then at liberty to vent her rage against herself, and to give way to 
her paroxysm of despair. 

2 A servant.'] — Ver. 93. It is supposed that the various particulars 
here enumerated were borrowed from Euripides, whom Plutarch re- 
marks as being skilled in depicting the effects of guilty or unrequited 
love ; the more especially as it is known that one of bis Tragedies, of 
which a few fragments still remain, had the title of /Eolus 



110 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XT. 

Ye gloomy Furies, 3 brandish against me those torches which 
you wield, that with those flames my funeral pile may be 
illumed. Do you, my sisters, under Destinies more propi- 
tious, be wedded in happiness ; but still be you mindful of my 
error. 

What has my child committed, born for a few hours? 
Hardly brought forth, by what deeds has it injured its 
grandsire ? If it could be 4 deserving of death, let it be deemed 
to have been deserving. Alas ! to its misfortune, for my 
criminality is it punished ! My child, the grief of thy mother, 
the prey of ravening wild beasts! Ah! wretched me! torn 
to pieces on the day of thy birth. My son, the luckless 
pledge of my unfortunate love, this was thy first day of life, this 
thy last. It was not allowed me to bathe thee in the tears thy 
due, nor yet to place my shorn locks 5 upon thy tomb. 6 Over 
thee I did not hang, no cold kisses did I snatch ; in pieces 
are the ravenous wild beasts tearing my entrails. I, as well, 
shall, with wounds, attend thy infant shade ; neither will I long 
be called either thy mother, or childless. But do thou, 7 alas ! 
hoped for in vain by thy wretched sister, collect, I pray, the 
scattered limbs of thy child ; and bear them back to its mo- 
ther, and place them in their common tomb ; and let the 
same urn, small though it be, receive the two. Live, mindful 
of me, and shed thy tears over my wounds ; and thou who 
didst love, shudder not at the body of her who loved. 

3 Gloomy Furies. .] — Ver. 103. The Furies were frequently represented 
in the act of waving torches. 

4 It could be.'] — Ver. 109. By this seeming admission, she more 
strongly asserts the innocence of the habe. ' A new-horn infant can be 
guilty of no crime, and to punish it for the guilt of its parents, in which 
it had no share, is cruel and unjust in the extreme.' 

5 My shorn locks.] — Ver. 116. Some Commentators would read the 
two words ' non tonsas' together, as meaning ' my hair not cut off, 
hut pulled out by the roots.' It seems, however, more likely, that the 
word ' non' is used to qualify ' licuit,' understood from the preceding 
line, as meaning ' nor yet.' 

6 Upon thy tomb.] — Ver. 116. Ste the Metamorphoses, Book iii., 
1. 506, and the Note to the passage. The female relatives of the dead 
were wont to lay their hair, not only on the funeral pile, but on the 
sepulchre as well. 

7 But do thou.] — Ver. 121. From lamenting her own fate, and that of 
her child, she addresses herself to her brother Macareus, and entreats 
him to collect the scattered bones of that dear pledge of their former 
affection, and to deposit them in the same urn with her own. 



EP. XII.] MEDEA TO JA.SO^ r . 1 1 1 

Do thou, 8 I entreat thee, execute the injunctions of thy most 
hapless sister ; I myself will ohey the injunctions of my 
sire. 

EPISTLE XII. 

MEDEA TO JASON. 

Jason, upon his arrival in Colchis, was kindly received by Medea, the 
daughter of ^Eetes, the king of that country, and she speedily became ena- 
moured of him. The conditions of obtaining the Golden Fleece hav- 
ing been stated to Jason, despairing of success without her assistance, 
he applied to Medea and having promised to marry her he was enabled, 
by her instructions, to surmount every difficulty. After obtaining the 
Golden Fleece, he fled from Colchis with Medea, who, hearing that 
Metes was in close pursuit of her, cut in pieces the body of her brother 
Absyrtus, and strewed his mangled limbs along the road, that her 
father might be delayed in collecting the bones of his son. By this 
artifice, the fugitives were enabled to reach Thessaly in safety ; where 
Medea restored JEson, the father of Jason, who was worn out with 
years, to youth. Jason afterwards transferred his affections to Creiisa, 
the daughter of Creon, king of Coriuth, and married hen Enraged at 
his perfidy, Medea is supposed to write the present Epistle, in which she 
charges him with ingratitude, and threatens a speedy vengeance, unless 
he shall restore her to her former place in his affections. 

Exiled, in want, 9 and despised by her new husband, Medea 
asks whether no leisure can be spared from thy kingly 
duties 1 

But (ivell I remember 10 ) when queen of the Colchians, 11 I 

8 Do thou.] — Ver. 127. This distich is wanting in some MSS., and is 
rejected by most of the Commentators, and by Heinsius in particular, as 
unworthy of the poetical genius of Ovid. 

9 Exiled in ivant.~\ — These two lines, 

Exul, inops, contempta novo Medea marito 
Dicit an a regnis tempora nulla vacant ? 
are wanting in many of the MSS., and are generally rejected as spurious. 

10 Well I remember, .] — Ver. 1. There is a singular beauty in the Epistle 
beginning thus abruptly, and with an air of perfect bewilderment, to be 
deserted by Jason, who had so often vowed eternal fidelity, and whom 
she had bound to her by such important sendees ! what, of all things, 
she had the least apprehended, and upon which she could not reflect 
without extreme astonishment. Many of tbe Epistles will be found 
to begin in a similar manner, and this feature forms one of their 
especial beauties. But injudicious critics, probably in the middle 
ages, have considered this to be a defect, and have wasted their time in 
attempts to remedy it. 

11 The Colchians.']— Yer. 1. The territory of Colchis lay on the 



112 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XII. 

spared leisure to thee, when thou didst entreat that my 
skill 12 should give thee aid. Then, ought the sisters who 
measure out the threads of human life, to have unwound my 
spindle. 13 Then might I, Medea, have honourably died ; 
whatever portion of my life I have protracted from that 
time, has been a penalty to me. Ah me ! why did ever the 
ship from Pelion, u impelled by youthful arms, seek the sheep 
of Phryxus 1 Why at Colchis did I ever behold the Magnesian 
Argo? 15 and why did you, the Grecian band, drink of the 
Phasian waters ? 16 Why, to an unbecoming degree, did thy 
yellow locks please me ? thy gracefulness, too, and the dis- 
sembling charms of thy tongue? 17 

Eastern side of the Black Sea, or ' Pontus Euxinus.' Medea calls her- 
self ' regina,' * queen/ or rather, ' princess' of the Colchians, as being 
the daughter of king iEetes. 

12 My skill] — Ver. 2. She alludes to her magic arts; as she was 
famous for her enchantments. 

13 My spindle.] — Ver. 4. The 'Parcae,' or ' Fates,' are here referred to. 
They were three sisters, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, to whom was sup- 
posed to be committed the duration of human life. The poets represent 
this by a thread assigned at birth to each individual ; relative to which, 
each sister had her own particular province. The first was employed 
in spinning it out, the second in winding it up, and the duty of the 
third was to cut it, and thereby put an end to life. This may serve 
to illustrate the mode of expression here used; the strict meaning of 
which is ' ought to have rolled off the thread — ;' or, in other words, 
' should have put an end to my life/ 

14 Ship from Pelion.] — Ver. 8. She alludes to the ship Argo, which 
was built of wood cut on mount Pelion. 

15 Magnesian Argo ] — Ver. 9. Magnesia was a region of Thessaly, in 
which Pelion was situate, though, according to some accounts, it was 
only adjacent to Pelion. 

16 Phasian ivaters.] — Ver. 10. The Argonauts were obliged to sail up 
the river Colchis before they could reach the residence of iEetes, the father 
of Medea. To drink of the waters of any place is a mode of expression 
very often used by the ancients to signify the inhabiting of that place, 
or the arriving at or residing in it for any time. The interrogation here is 
much stronger than if she merely said that she wished the Argonauts had 
never seen Colchis. 

17 Of thy "tongue.] — Ver. 12. She artfully invents an excuse for her 
own weakness, in becoming so much enamoured of Jason, and breaking 
through so many obligations for the purpose of assisting him. His charms, 
she says, were such as might easily ensnare an innocent heart, unversed 
in guile. Add to this, the irresistible eloquence of a smooth and deceit- 
ful tongue. 



EP. XII.] MEDEA. TO JASON. 113 

Either (when the strange ship 18 had for the first time 
come to our sands, and had brought those enterprising men) 
the ungrateful son of iEson ought, unfortified by spells 19 
beforehand, to have met the flames and the hollow nostrils 
of the bulls. He ought to have sowed the seed ; as many 
enemies, too, he ought to have found ; that by his own 
harvest the sower himself 20 might fall. How much perfidy, 
perjured man, would have perished with thyself! How 
many an evil would have been removed from my head ! 
5 Tis some relief to reproach the ungrateful man with the 
favours he has received. This shall I enjoy; this pleasure 
alone shall I receive from thee. Commanded to steer thy 
unproved ship to Colchis, thou didst enter the happy realms 
cf my native land. There was I, Medea, the same that here 
is thy new-made bride. My father was as opulent as is hers. 
The one possesses Ephyre, 5 ; 1 between its two seas, the other 
all that part of 22 snowy Scythia where the left side of the 
Euxine Sea is situate. iEetes received the Pelasgian youths 

18 The strange ship.'] — Ver. 13. Some writers assert that the Argo 
was the first ship in which men ventured upon the sea. The word ' nova,' 
in this passage, may, however, possibly mean simply ' uncommon ;' as a 
ship was probably an unusual object in a district so remote as Colchis. In- 
deed, it may have been the first to make its appearance on that coast. 

19 Unfortified by spells.] — Ver. 15. ' Not fortified by my drugs and 
medicines '; for it was by means of Medea's instructions and the magic 
potions with which she furnished him, that he was enabled to withstand 
the fiery blasts of the brazen-footed bulls, and to lull to sleep the watch- 
ful dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece. 

20 Sower himself.] — Ver. 18. Her meaning is, that Jason, who had 
cast the teeth of the dragon in the earth after the manner of a sower, 
ought to have perished by the hands of the armed men who sprang from 
the seed so sown. 

21 Ephyre.] — Ver. 27. Ephyre was the ancient name of Corinth. Ac- 
cording to Velleius Paterculus, Haletes, the sixth in descent from Her- 
cules, and the son of Hippotes, changed the name of the place from 
Ephyre into Corinthus. Hyginus says, Fable 275, i The Nymph Ephyre, 
the daughter of Oceanus, founded the city of Ephyre, which was after- 
wards called Corinthus.' Being situate on an Isthmus, between the 
iEgean and the Ionian seas, the poets frequently gave it the appellation of 
1 bimaris,' ' between the two seas.' 

22 That part of .] — Ver. 28. The reading, ' Scythiae latus ille nivosse 
Omne tenet,' seems preferable to that which is most frequently adopted, 
• Scythia tenus ille, nivosa Omne tenet.' 

I 



114 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEKOT^ES. [EP. XII; 

with hospitality, and you, Grecian bodies, pressed the em- 
broidered couches. 23 

Then did I behold thee ; then did I begin to know what 
thou wast ; that was the first downfall of mj peace of mind. 
How did I gaze, 24 how did I pine, and how did I burn with 
flames I knew not before; just as the torch of pine-wood 25 
burns before the great Divinities. Both thou thyself wast 

23 Embroidered couches.'] — Ver. 30. The ' torus ' here mentioned is 
properly the purple or embroidered stuff cushion, which was placed on 
the ' lectus,' or couch, on which the guests reclined while taking their 
meals. The ' lecti tricliniares ' were low, and so were the tables that 
were spread before them. The ' lecti ' are supposed to have been very 
similar to the ' lecti cubiculares,' or beds for sleeping in ; as they had 
girths and mattresses, with gorgeous coverlets, and were ornamented with 
copper, silver, tortoiseshell, and ivory. 

21 How did I gaze.] — Ver. 33. The whole aceount here given of Ja- 
son's first appearance, and the beginning and progress of her passion, is 
highly poetical. We may compare it with some lines of Virgil on the same 
subject, and expressed in a very similar manner. The words of Damon in 
the Eighth Eclogue, when relating the rise and growth of his passion, are 
as follow : — 

' Sepibus in nostris parvam te roscida mala 
(Dux ego vester eram) vidi cum matre legentem : 
Alter ab undecimo turn me jam ceperat annus ; 
Jam fragiles poteram a terra contingere ramos. 
Ut vidi, ut perii, ut me malus abstulit error.' 
' 1 beheld you in your childhood, (for I was your guide) together with your 
mother, picking dewy apples in our hedges. I was at that time just 
twelve years old ; and I could hardly reach from the ground the brittle 
branches. How did I gaze, how was I undone, how did a fatal bewilder- 
ment seize me ! ' 

25 Torch of pine-wood.] — Ver. 34. The ' tseda,' or ' teda,' of the 
ancients was a torch, made of the wood of the fir. The following was 
the method adopted in making them. A large incision having been 
made in a pine-tree near the root, the turpentine flowing downwards 
accumulated in its vicinity. This resinous wood was called by the Greeks 
' dag,' ' torch-wood.' After the lapse of about a year, the part that 
was thus impregnated was cut out, and then divided into the proper 
.lengths, and as the tree gradually decayed, the heart of the trunk was 
extracted, and the roots were finally dug up for the same purpose. When 
persons went out at night they took these torches in their hands, like 
the links used in this country up to the commencement of the present 
century. They were also used in nuptial processions. From the present 
passage it appears, that 'tsedae' were burning before the images of the 
Gods ; probably in a frame, like the wax candles which are burnt before 
the altars and chapels in the churches of Catholic countries. 



EP. XII.] MEDEA TO JASON. 115 

beauteous, and my destinies were urging me onward ; thy 
eyes had ravished my sight. 26 Perfidious man, thou didst 
perceive this ; for who can successfully conceal love ? The 
flame is manifest, betrayed by its own evidence. In the 
meantime the conditions 27 are repeated to thee ; that with 
the unwonted ploughshare thou shouldst load the unbroken 
necks of the fierce bulls. These bulls of Mars 28 were more 
terrible than by reason of their horns alone; their breath was 
dreadful flames. Their feet were solid with brass, and brass 
was extended over their nostrils ; black, too, was this ren- 
dered by their breath. Thou art ordered, also, to scatter the 
seed with thy devoted hand 29 over the wide fields, to give birth 
to a race, who are to attack thee with the weapons that spring 
up with themselves. Such is the crop, unfavourable to the 
husbandman. The last labour is, by some stratagem, to elude 
the eyes of the keeper, that know not how to yield to sleep. 

iEetes had now spoken; in sorrow you all arose, and the 
high table left the purple couches. How far from thee, 30 
then, was the kingdom, the dower of Creiisa, and thy father- 
in-law, and the daughter of the great Creon ? In sadness 
didst thou depart ; as thou didst depart I followed thee with 
tearful eyes, and with a gentle murmur thy tongue said, 
'Farewell!' When, fatally wounded, I reached the bed 
placed in my chamber ; that night, long as it was, was passed 
by me in tears. Before my eyes were both the savage bulls 
and the dreadful harvest ; before my eyes was the ever watchful 

26 Ravished my sight.'] — Ver. 36. That is, ' my eyes were so immove- 
ably fixed on you, that they could regard no other object.' This is said to 
be one of the characteristics of love. 

27 The conditions.'] — Ver. 39. Medea, after describing the manner in 
which her passion began, and its rapid growth, adverts to the many ob- 
ligations she had conferred on him. the dangers to which he was exposed 
before he could obtain the wished-for prize, and the care she had taken to 
fortify him against them : from all which she infers his baseness and in- 
gratitude in deserting her. 

28 Bulls of Mars.] — Ver. 41. This and the next line are thought by 
Heinsius to be spurious, and unworthy of the genius of Ovid. There is 
probably some ground for this ; but yet it does not seem from the con- 
text that they could be well dispensed with. 

29 Thy devoted hand.] — Ver. 46. Some would render ' devota,' ' con- 
secrated' ; it seems rather to mean * devoted to,' or ' destined for the 
purpose.' 

30 Far from tJiee.] — Ver. 53. This is said in the most bitter irony. 

I 2 



116 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEBOTNES. [EP. XII. 

dragon. On one side was love, on the other, fear ; fear in- 
creased that love. It was now morning, and my sister 31 was 
received in my chamber ; she found me, too, with dishevelled 
locks and lying upon my face, and every thing saturated with 
my tears. She entreats aid 32 for the Minyse : one female 
asks, and another will receive it. What she entreats, that do 
I give to the youth, the son of iEson. 

There is a grove, darksome both with pitch trees and with 
the leaves of the holm oak, hardly can one enter that by the 
rays of the sun. In it there was, and there long had been, 
a shrine to Diana ; 33 the Goddess stood in gold wrought by a 
barbarian hand. 34 Dost thou know it, or has the spot escaped 
thy memory along with me ? Thither did we come ; and 
thus with deceiving lips didst thou begin first to speak. 

" Fortune has given thee the command and the disposal of 
my safety ; and in thy hand is my life and my death. If the 
power itself delights any one, 'tis enough to be able to destroy ; 
but, preserved, I shall prove a greater honour to thee. By my 
misfortunes do I pray, of which thou canst be the solace ; by 
thy race, and by the majesty of thy grandsire that sees all 
things ; by the features, and the secret rites of the three- 

31 My sister.] — Ver. 62. Chalciope was anxious for the safety of the 
Argonauts, because, according to Hyginus, her four sons by Phryxus were 
of the number. 

33 Entreats aid.] — Ver. 65. There was good reason for this friendly 
feeling, as Jason had relieved her sons when shipwrecked and in distress. 

33 Shrine to Diana.] — Ver. 70. ' Delubra Dianse.' It is extremely diffi- 
cult to say how the ' templum' of the Romans differed from the « delubrum.' 
Some of the ancient writers think that ' delubrum' was originally the 
place at the entrance which contained a vessel filled with water, for 
the purpose of purification before entering the temple. Other authors 
again suppose that * delubrum' was originally the name for the wooden 
statue of a Divinity, which derived its name from ' liber,' • the bark' of a 
tree, which was removed, (delibrabatur) before the tree was wrought into 
the image, and that in time the name ' delubrum' was applied to the place 
where this image was erected. Some, again, think it to have been a 
sanctuary, or place set apart from the adjacent soil, which was applied to 
common purposes. 

34 Barbarian hand.] — Ver. 70. Though Medea's own nation was ' bar. 
barus,' and she was 'barbara,' she probably means here, that the 
! barbaricus manus,' which made the golden statue, was not that of a person 
of her own country; but that it was of Phrygian, or probably of Oriental 
workmanship.. 



EP. XII.] MEDEA TO JA.S03". 117 

formed Diana j 35 and if perchance this nation has any other 
Deities : take pity upon me, maiden ! take pity on my com- 
panions ! by thy good offices, make me thine for all future 
time. And if perchance 36 thou dost not despise a Pelasgian 
man, (but why should I imagine the Gods so propitious, and 
so favourable to me ?) first may my breath vanish into the 
yielding air, before there shall be any bride but thee for my 
nuptial chamber. May Juno, who presides over the conjugal 
solemnities, be witness, that Goddess, too, in whose marble 
temple we are." 

These words* 7 (and how small a part is this of them?) 
moved the feelings of a confiding maid ; thy right hand, too, 
joined to my right hand. I saw tears as well : was a portion 
of thy deceit 38 in them ? Thus speedily was I, a maid, be- 
trayed by thy words. Thou didst both yoke 39 the brazen- 

36 Three-formed Diana."] — Ver. 79. The three-formed Diana was sup- 
posed to be the same Divinity as Hecate. Her mysteries were performed 
in the night-time. 

36 And if perchance.'] — Ver. 83. We have here a remarkable instance 
how ready the views and sentiments of mankind are to alter upon a 
change of circumstances. When Jason was in the capital of Colchis, 
almost overpowered by the dangers that attended his enterprize, and had 
no hopes of relief but in the aid of Medea, he addressed her with suppliant 
humility. He then thought it the greatest happiness to enjoy her favour, 
and dreaded lest she should despise him as a stranger. Now, however, 
the case is changed : he has obtained his great object, brought his enter- 
prise to a successful issue, and escaped safe to Thessaly. As he has now 
no interests of his own to influence him, his heart is open to impressions 
from others. A more advantageous match presents itself, and Medea is 
abandoned and reduced to supplicate in her turn. 

37 These words.] — Ver. 89. She here endeavours to set his baseness 
in the strongest light, by representing how many of his promises he had 
falsified. 

38 Part of thy deceit.] — Ver. 91. This is much the same sentiment that 
the Poet has before expressed in the Epistle from Phyllis to Demophoon : 

1 Credidimus lacrymis : an et has simulare docentur ? 
Hae quoque habent artes, quaque jubentur eunt ?' 

39 Didst both yoke.] — Ver. 93. Medea, after reminding him of the pro- 
mises made to her, his insinuating address, and the success which it has had 
in gaining her love, proceeds to relate how, by means of the assistance 
which she gave him, he had the good fortune to accomplish the several 
tasks assigned to him by her father. She then proceeds to reproach him 
with his baseness in deserting her, after he had obtained his aims. ;;nri then 
attaching himself to another, who had only her riches to recommend her, 
objects which, in the day of his perplexity, were far from his thoughts. 



118 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEEOI^ES. [EP. XII. 

footed bulls 40 with a body not even singed, and thou didst 
cleave the firm earth with the ploughshares, as enjoined. 
Thou didst fill the fields with the envenomed teeth, in place 
of seed : it sprang up, and the soldiers wore swords and 
bucklers. I myself, who had given thee the charms, sat 
pale, when I saw the men so suddenly spring up, brandishing 
their arms ; until (dreadful catastrophe !) the brothers, sprung 
from the earth, turned against each other their armed hands. 
Behold ! the ever-watchfal dragon, dreadful with his rattling 
scales, is hissing, and is sweeping the ground with his wind- 
ing breast. Where, then, were the riches of thy dowry ? 
Where, then, thy royal wife ? This Isthmus, too, which divides 
the waters of the twofold sea ? Those flaming eyes did I, by 
a sleep caused by drugs, withdraw from thee, I, who now at 
length am become a barbarian to thee, who seem to thee now 
poor, now a criminal ; to thee, too, did I give the fleece to 
carry away in safety. 

My father was betrayed : both my kingdom and my coun- 
try did I forsake : and I considered that there was an ad- 
vantage in any kind of exile. My virginity became the prey 
of a foreign robber : my best of sisters was forsaken together 
with my dear mother. 41 But, my brother, 42 when flying, I 
did not leave thee without me. In this passage alone is my 
letter defective. 43 What my right hand has dared to do it 
dares not to write ; thus ought I, but together with thy- 
self, to have been torn in pieces. And yet I 44 dreaded not, (for, 

40 Brazen-footed bulls."\ — Ver. 93. According to Apollonius Rhodius, 
these bulls were two in number, and of immense magnitude. 

41 My dear mother.'] — Ver. 112. By some writers her mother is called 
Hypsea, by others Idyia. 

42 My brother.'] — Ver. 113. Her misfortunes have at length opened 
her eyes to her criminality, and have left her at liberty to reflect upon her 
crimes in all the hideousness of their guilt. She was before so infatuated 
by her passion for Jason, that no sacrifice appeared too great, if made for 
his sake. "When she fled from Colchis with Jason, her brother Absyrtus 
accompanied her. It has been already stated how and for what purpose 
she murdered that unhappy youth. 

43 My letter defective.] — Ver. 114. She avoids a direct mention of her 
cruelty to her brother, and satisfies herself with barely hinting at it ; as 
though she would say, ' Of all the things that I have done for you, this is 
the only one over which shame and the sense of guilt oblige me to draw a 
veil.' 

44 And yet /.] — Ver. 117. Heinsius thus explains the meaning of this 



EP. XII.] MEDEA TO JASOtf. 119 

after that, what could I dread ?) a woman, and one so guilty, 
to entrust myself to the waves. Where is the providence of 
the Gods ? Where the Divinities ? We should have suffered our 
deserts on the deep, thou, the penalty of thy treachery, I, of 
my simplicity. I wish that the Symplegades 45 had crushed 
us, caught between them, and that my bones 46 had been 
pressed into thy bones ! Or, would that ravenous Scylla 
had sent us to be devoured by her dogs ! (Scylla was bound 
to be injurious to ungrateful men. 47 ) Would, too, that she, 

passage. ' Although I now dare not write, what I yet dared to commit, 
I was not however afraid, even at that time, to expose myself to the dan- 
gers of the sea. For what would I not have ventured upon, after so 
many crimes against my brother and my father/ The sea was thought by 
the ancients to be an especial source of retribution for those who were 
guilty of heinous offences. 

45 The Symjrtegades.] — Ver. 121. The Symplegades, or Cyanean rocks, 
were two rocky islands in the Thracian Bosphorus, which were said by 
ancient writers sometimes to part asunder, and at other times to rush 
together with great force. It was considered extremely dangerous to sail 
between them, because if the ship should be by any accident detained a 
longer time than was originally expected, the rocks, closing together, 
would be certain to crush it to pieces. Jason is said to have passed be- 
tween them with imminent danger to his ship ; for the rocks, meeting 
before the Argo had passed quite through, carried away her stern. The 
fable probably arose from the appearance that these rocks bore to those 
who sailed between them : for in bearing straight down upon them, while 
the ship was yet at some distance, they seemed to be joined in one ; 
but as she approached nearer they would appear to open by degrees, and 
when the vessel had passed through them and had proceeded to some dis- 
tance on the other side, they would again seem to run together and unite. 
This, in the first ages of the world, and while navigation was in its in- 
fancy, and optical phaenomena were little understood, might pass, among 
ignorant persons, for a real motion of the rocks. 

46 That my bones.'] — Ver. 122. We are told by Apollodorus that Ju- 
piter, being deservedly indignant at the slaughter of Absyrtus, sent a fu- 
rious tempest against the Argonauts, by reason of which they were carried 
beyond the shores of Libya, Gaul, Sardinia and Etruria. They were in- 
formed that his wrath would not be propitiated before they had repaired 
to Ausonia, and had been purified by Circe. It is in allusion to this tem- 
pest that Medea here makes mention of Scylla and Charybdis. 

47 Ungrateful men.'] — Ver. 124. Ovid, by here alluding to the ingrati- 
tude of men, falls into his usual error of confounding the Scylla who was 
changed by Circe, in her jealousy, into a whirlpool, with the Scylla who 
betrayed her father, Nisus, to Minos. They were, however, different 
persons. Minos, who made no return to the passion of the latter Scylla, 
is the ' ingratus vir' here mentioned : though some Commentators think 



1 20 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROISTES. [EP. XII. 

who 48 so many times vomits forth the waves, and as many 
times sucks them in again, had buried us beneath the Trina- 
crian waves ! 49 

In safety hast thou returned, a conqueror too, to the Hee- 
monian cities : the golden fleece is offered to the Gods of 
thy country. Why should I make mention of the daughters 
of Pelias, 5u criminal in their affection, and the limbs of their 
father torn asunder by their virgin hands ? Though others 
should blame me, thou art bound to commend me, for whom 
so often I have been forced to be guilty. Thou didst dare, 

Oh (words are wanting to the true extent of my grief ) 

thou didst dare to say, "Depart from the house 51 of iEson !" 
Thus commanded, I was departing from the house, accompanied 
by my two children, and by that love of thyself that ever attends 
me. When, suddenly, thy nuptials, honoured with hymns, 52 
reached my ears, and the torches 53 gleamed with the lighted 

that the passage may refer to the passion of Seylla for Glaucus, the sea 
God. The story of Seylla, the daughter of Nisus, is told in the Eighth, and 
that of the other Seylla, in the Fourteenth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

48 That she who.'] — Ver, 125. Charybdis is here alluded to ; a rapid 
whirlpool on the coast of Sicily, which draws in and throws out the water 
with tremendous force and swiftness, twice every twenty-four hours. This 
Charybdis, as the poets feign, was a voracious woman, who stole the oxen 
of Hercules, on which Jupiter struck her with a thunderbolt, and threw 
her into the sea, where she retains her former voracity, and swallows up all 
that comes near her. 

49 Trinacrian waves."]. — Ver. 126. Sicily was called Trinacria, from 
the fact of its having a triangular form. 

50 Of Pelias.] — Ver. 129. Medea here reminds Jason of another act 
of kindness which she had done him. Pelias was the king of Thessaly, 
and uncle to Jason, and, with the view of removing him, suggested to him 
the expedition for the recovery of the Golden Fleece. He had three 
daughters, Alceste, Amphinome, and Evadne, who, trusting to the false 
promises of Medea, cut their father in pieces, as she had made them 
believe, that after they had done so, she would restore him to youth. 
Her only object, however, was to remove him out of the way, on account 
of the ill-will which he bore to Jason. This story is related in the Seventh 
Book of the Metamorphoses. 

51 From the house.] — Ver. 134. ' Cede domo ' was the formula used 
in the Roman repudiation or divorce. 

52 Honoured with hymns.] — Ver. 137. 'Hymen cantatus': — this al- 
ludes to the Hymenseal song, which was sung at the nuptial ceremony. 

53 And the torches.] — Ver. 138. ' Lampades ' may refer either to the 
torches which were used in the nuptial ceremony, or to the lanterns with 
which the house was huns on the festive occasion. 



EP. XII. J MEDEA TO JASON. 12l 

flames : the pipe too 54 poured forth the songs of wedded joys to 
yourselves, but to me more mournful than the funereal trum- 
pet ; 55 I was struck with alarm ; nor did I as yet suppose that 
wickedness existed so great ; but still there was a chill through- 
out all my breast. 

The crowds rushed on, and " Hymen I" they cried ; " Hy- 
menseus !" they shouted with redoubled cries. The nearer 
the sound came, the more dreadful to me it was. The servants 
were weeping in different quarters, and were concealing their 
tears. Who could wish to be the messenger of a calamity so 
great 1 To me, too, it was more pleasing to be ignorant of itj 
whatever it was ; but, as though I knew, my mind was sad- 
dened. When the younger of my sons, by my order, and 
through a desire of seeing, stood at the very threshold of 

54 The pipe too.] — Ver. 139. The 'tibia' was a pipe or flute, and 
formed the commonest musical instrument among the Greeks and 
Romans. It was very frequently a hollow cane perforated with holes, in 
regular order ; sometimes it was made of a cylinder of hollowed box- 
wood, pierced with holes. The Phoenicians used a very small pipe, 
which was made of a reed or straw, which was called ' gingrus.' The 
player, when the single pipe was used, was called ' monaulos.' Thus em- 
ployed, it was much in fashion at Alexandria. It was sometimes bound 
with metal or ivory rings, and must have then resembled the flageolet or 
clarionet of modern times. It was much more usual, however, among 
the Greeks and Romans, to play on two pipes at the same time ; the pipes 
being entirely distinct, and with separate mouth-pieces. The pipe was 
used at sacrifices, entertainments, and funerals. The worshippers of 
Bacchus and Cybele used the Phrygian pipe, which had but two holes, 
and terminated in a bend upwards, somewhat similar to our horn. The 
Phrygian pipe was also used at funerals. This instrument was also em- 
ployed to regulate the time in dancing, and was used on private occasions 
in domestic life, and especially, as in the present instance, on the celebra- 
tion of nuptials. The Thebans greatly excelled in the use of the • tibia.' 

55 Funereal trumpet.'] — Ver. 140. The • tuba,' or • trumpet' of bronze, 
was distinguished from the ' cornu,' oi curved trumpet, by being straight. 
The ' tuba' was employed in war and at funeral solemnities, whence pro- 
bably its epithet in the present instance, ' funesta.' We learn, however, 
from Aulus Gellius, that those who sounded the trumpet at funerals, were 
called ' Siticines,' and that their instruments were of a peculiar form. 
The sound of the ' tuba' was of a harsh nature ; Ennius has endeavoured 
to imitate it in the line ; — * At tuba terribili sonitu taratantara dixit.' 
It is generally supposed to have been of Etrurian origin, and was attributed 
to Maleus, a fabulous king of Etruria, said to have been the son of Her- 
cules and Omphale. 



122 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XII; 

the folding doors ; he said to me, " My mother, begone ; my 
father Jason will head the procession : and, glistening in gold, 56 
he is driving the harnessed steeds." Forthwith, tearing my 
garments, I beat my breast : and my features were not in safety 
from my hands. My feelings prompted me to rush into the 
ranks of the midst of the throng, and to tear away the garlands 
snatched from thy well trimmed locks. Hardly did I withhold 
myself from thus exclaiming, as I tore my hair, "He is 
mine/' and from laying hands on thee. 

My injured father, 57 rejoice : forsaken Colchians, be glad : 
shade of my brother, receive my sacrifice. 58 I am deserted 
(my kingdom, my country, and my home, now lost,) by 
my husband: him, who alone was all these things to me. 
I could then subdue serpents, and raging bulls ; and could 
I not vanquish a single man ? And am I, who could con- 
trol by my skilful potions the raging flames, unable, my- 
self, to escape from my own flames ? Do my very charms, 
and my herbs, and my skill forsake me ? Does the Goddess 
avail nought, do the rites of the powerful Hecate avail nothing ? 
To me the day is not pleasing ! the bitter nights are spent in 
watching ; no placid slumber visits my wretched breast. I 
could lull to sleep the dragon, who cannot do so for myself : 
my art is more useful to any one than to myself. 

Those limbs which I have preserved, a rival is embracing ; 
and she is enjoying the fruit of my toil. Perhaps, too, while 
thou art seeking to exalt thyself 59 before thy silly wife, and to 

56 Glistening in gold,'] — Ver. 152. According to some Commentators, 
* aureus' here means ' arrayed in vestments of gold,' while Burmann thinks 
that it signifies ' borne in his chariot of gold,' as in the First Book of the 
Art of Love, 1. 214. ' Quatuor in niveis aureus ibis equis.' The ' pompa' 
is the nuptial procession which Jason is supposed to head, probably in a 
chariot, resplendent with gold. 

&7 My injured father. ,] — Ver. 159- From reflecting upon her own 
calamities, she turns her thoughts to those whom she has injured, and 
concludes that her present misfortunes are the judgment of heaven for her 
past offences. 

f My sacrifice.']— Ver. 160. ' Inferise' were the sacrifices which 
were offered to the ' Manes' or < shades ' of the departed. These were 
thought to be especially propitiated, when such as had been their enemies 
died or met with any signal misfortune. 

69 To exalt thyself.] — Ver. 175. This notion is very appositely intro- 
duced here. Medea had been rejected, and another one occupied her place. 
We may therefore readily suppose that her thoughts would be intent upon 



EP. XII. J MEDEA TO JASOK. 123 

utter what is agreable to her hostile ear, thou mayst be in- 
venting some new charges against my face and my manners : 
she, perhaps, may be laughing, and may be joyous at my fail- 
ings. Let her laugh, and let her lie in her vanity on Tyrian pur- 
ple.: she shall weep, and, burnt, she shall transcend my flame. 60 
So long as there shall be the sword, and flames, and poisonous 
potions to be had, no enemy of Medea shall be unpunished. 
And if, perchance, entreaties touch thy obdurate heart, now 
listen to words less strong than my feelings. To thee as much 
a suppliant am I as thou hast often been to me ; and I hesi- 
tate not to throw myself before thy feet. If I am despicable 
to thee, think of the children of us both : a cruel step- 
mother will exercise her vengeance against my offspring. 
And they are too like to thyself: even I am moved by the 
likeness, and oft as I look on them, my eyes are moist with 
tears. By the Gods above do I entreat, by the light of the 
flames of my grandsire, 61 by my own deserts, 62 and by my 
two sons, our pledges of love ; restore to me my bed ; for 
which, in my folly, I left so many things : make good thy 
speeches, and afford me relief. 

the good fortune of her rival ; she would be frequently imagining the 
lovers together, and fancying to herself what might possibly pass be- 
tween them. In this train of reflection, it would naturally come into her 
mind that their discourse would sometimes turn upon her ; and as she was 
no stranger to the infirmities of the human heart, especially when inflamed 
by love, she readily comes to the conclusion, that Jason, upon these occa- 
sions, would endeavour to recommend himself to his new mistress by 
depreciating and disparaging her charms, and that she, on the other side, 
would feel a sensible joy in being thus preferred to her rival. 

60 Transcend my flame.] — Ver. 180. She threatens her here, with real, 
and not with figurative flames, a threat which she afterwards acted upon. 
Apollodorus says, ' Medea calling those Gods to witness, by whom Jason 
had sworn, and abhorring his ingratitude, sent to his wife a garment 
steeped in poison. Soon as she had put it on, she and her father Creon 
were burnt with an intense fire.' 

61 Of my grandsire.] — Ver. 191. She refers to her descent from 
Phoebus, or the Sun. 

62 My own deserts.] — Ver. 192. It will be observed that she does not 
confine herself solely to threats ; she mingles with them prayers and 
entreaties, while her expressions are still full of love and tenderness. Not- 
withstanding the many reproaches that she throws out against him, she 
occasionally lets fall some sentence that shews the sure hold he still has 
on her affections. Her reproaches, too, far from manifesting any decay 
of her passion, are the clearest evidence of its strength, and flow solely 
from a sense of ill-requited love. 



124 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XIII. 

I am not imploring thee against bulls and men, and that by 
thy aid the dragon overcome may be lulled. I am asking thee, 
whom I have purchased ; whom thou hast thyself presented to 
me ; with whom, when made a parent, at the same moment I 
was made a parent. You enquire where my dowry is 1 In 
that field have I reckoned it out which had to be ploughed 
by thee when about to bear away the fleece. That golden ram 
is my dower, beauteous with his fleece of gold ; which, 
should I say to thee, " Give it me back," thou wouldst refuse 
me. My dowry was thy being in safety ; my dowry was the 
youths of Greece. Go then, perjured man, compare the wealth 
of Sisyphus 63 with mine. That thou art living, that thou art 
possessing a wife, and a powerful father-in-law, even this very 
fact, that thou canst be ungrateful, is all my own. Whom I 

this very instant ! but of what use is it to threaten 

vengeance before-hand ? Rage is giving birth to these violent 
threats. Whither anger shall lead me, thither will I follow. 

Perhaps I shall repent of my deeds. I repent too that I 
assisted a faithless man. Let the God 54 see to it, who now is 
.swaying my breast. My mind for sure, is conceiving some- 
thing great, to an extent which I know not. 



EPISTLE XIII. 
LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS. 

\Vhilb the Greeks were preparing for the expedition against Troy, Pro- 
tesilaiis, the son of Iphiclus, as we learn from Homer, joined them with 
forty ships. The fleet being detained by contrary winds at Aulis, the 

63 Wealth of Sisyphus.'] — Ver. 204. She alludes to the dowry which 
he, doubtless, would have received from Creon, the son of Sisyphus, with 
his daughter Glauca, or Creiisa. 

64 Let the God.] — Ver. 211. Jason, paying no regard to the prayers 
and entreaties of Medea, but commanding her forthwith to leave the city, 
(for she was at that time in Corinth) she, with some difficulty, obtained of 
Creon a respite of one day. Disguising herself so as not to be known, 
and entering the palace in the night, she set fire to it by means of a com- 
position invented by Circe, of which the nature was such that the flames 
raised by it could not be extinguished. Jason escaped by leaping from 
the burning mass ; but Creon and Creiisa perished in the flames. This is 
the account given by many authors ; though it will be seen to vary from 
the narrative of Apollodorus above quoted. 



EP. XIII.]" LAODAMIA TO PROTESILAUS. 125 

oracle was consulted, and an answer was returned, that Agamemnon had 
offended Diana by killing one of her sacred stags, and that nothing would 
appease the Goddess for the offence but the sacrifice of one of his 
children. Iphigenia was thereupon proposed as the victim for obtaining 
a propitious voyage. During the time that the fleet is lying wind-bound, 
Laodamia, the daughter of Acastus and the wife of Protesilaiis, who 
is ardently attached to her husband, and has often been alarmed by 
ominous dreams, is supposed to write the present Epistle, in which she 
endeavours to dissuade him from engaging in the war. The Greeks 
had been told by an oracle, that whoever should first set foot upon 
Trojan ground was doomed to perish. Laodamia is unable to conceal 
her concern, and sensible of his undaunted bravery, she desires him, for 
her sake, to moderate his intrepidity, and to keep in mind that the same 
wound will prove fatal to them both. She exacts his compliance 
as a testimony of the continuance of his affection, and tells him 
that she will judge of his love for her by the care he takes of him- 
self. 

Laodamia of Haemonia, 65 both sends health to her Hsemo- 
nian husband, and, in her love, wishes it to reach the place 
whither it is sent. There is a report that thou art detained 
at Aulis by contrary winds. 66 Alas ! when thou didst flee 
from me, where were those winds ? Then ought the seas to 
have opposed themselves to thy oars. That was the proper 
season for the waves to be boisterous. Many a kiss would 
I have given to my husband, and many an injunction ; and 
many things there are which I wished to say to thee. 

Suddenly wast thou hurried hence ; and the breeze that in- 
vited thy sails, was such as the mariners desired, not I. The 
wind was suited for sailors, not suited for one who loved. I 
was torn, Protesilaiis, from thy embraces, and my tongue, 
as I enjoined thee, left its words unfinished, hardly was it 
able to pronounce the sad farewell. Boreas sprang up, 67 

65 Hamonia."} — Ver. 2. In addition to the derivation already mentioned, 
Thessaly was said to have had the name of Haemonia, or iEmonia, from 
^Emonia, the daughter of Deucalion. 

fifi Contrary winds.'] — Ver. 3. The fleet being detained at Aulis by con- 
trary winds, Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, was led to the altar 
as a propitiatory sacrifice to the wrath of Diana. Virgil and Propertius 
affrm that she was actually slain ■ but Ovid (in the Twelfth Book of the 
Metamorphoses), Martial, Juvenal, and other authors, say that she was 
saved, and that, by the direction of the Goddess, a hind was substituted 
for her, while she herself afterwards became the priestess of Diana. 

67 Boreas sprang up.~\ — Ver. 15. The North wind would be favourable 
to Protesilaiis when sailing from Thessaly to Aulis, the place of meeting, 



] 26 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEEOItfES. [EP. XIII. 

and swelled the sails caught by him, and soon was my Pro- 
tesilaiis far away. So long as I could look on my husband, 
I was delighted to gaze upon him ; and without ceasing did I 
follow thy eyes with mine. When I could no longer see thee, 
I could see thy sails ; long did the sails detain my gaze. But 
after I beheld neither thyself nor thy flying sails, and there 
was nothing but sea for me to behold, together with thee, 
life fled as well ; a darkness coming on, I am reported, turn- 
ing pale, to have fallen fainting with tottering knees. 

Hardly did my father-in-law Iphiclus, hardly did the aged 
Acastus, 68 hardly did my sorrowing mother, revive me with 
cold water. They did an affectionate act of kindness, but 
quite useless to me ; I am grieved, that in my misery, I was 
not allowed to die. Soon as my senses returned, my sorrows 
returned as well ; and a lawful passion tormented my chaste 
breast. No care have I to give my hair 69 to be combed; 70 
no pleasure have I for my person to be adorned with garments 
embroidered in gold. Just as those whom the two-horned 
Bacchus 11 is believed, to have touched with his lance clothed 

68 Aged Acastus.] — Ver. 25. Burmann, in the list of the Argonauts, 
which he has prefixed to his edition of Valerius Flaccus, is in doubt 
whether this Acastus is the same with Acastus, the son of Pelias, and 
the companion of Jason in the Argonautic expedition. It appears to him 
that this Acastus could hardly he living at the time of the Trojan war ; but 
it is evident, from a passage of the Troades of Euripides, that Acastus, 
the son of Pelias, was existing after the destruction of Troy. That person 
is probably here meant, and the more so, as they were both Thessalians. 
Iphiclus, the father of Protesilaus, was one of the Argonauts, and was 
noted for his great swiftness in running. 

69 Give my hair.'] — Ver. 31. In early times the Roman women were 
in the habit of dressing their hair with great simplicity ; but in the Au- 
gustan period a variety of head-dresses came into fashion, many of which 
will be found described in the Art of Love, Book iii. 1. 136. These head- 
dresses were sometimes raised to a considerable height by rows of false 
ringlets. Slaves were trained especially for the purpose of dressing the 
hair of the Roman ladies ; they were called ' ornatrices,' and were in- 
structed by masters in the art. One of the simplest modes of wearing 
the hair was allowing it to fail in tresses behind, and only confining it by 
a band encircling the head. Another favourite method was that of plat- 
ting the hair, and confining it with a ' crinale,' or hair-pin, behind the 
head. The Athenian women wore the hair in a knot on the top of the 
head, which was fastened with a clasp in the shape of a grasshopper. 

70 To be combed.] — Ver. 31. On the combs in use among the ancients, 
see the Note to 1. 311, of the Fourth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

71 Two-homed Bacchus.'] — Ver. 33. Bacchus was frequently repre- 



EP. XIH.J LAODAMIA TO PBOTESILAUS. 12/ 

in vine, so do I go to and fro, whither madness impels me. 
The matrons of Phyllus 7 - throng around me, and cry out to me, 
" Put on, Laodamia, thy royal attire." Shall I myself, for- 
sooth, put on garments steeped in purple, 73 and is he to be 74 , 
waging war under the walls of Ilium ? Shall I myself have 
my hair arrayed, and must he have his head burdened with a 
helmet ? 75 Shall I myself put on new garments, and must my 
husband wear rugged armour ? 

So far as I can, I will be said, by my neglected guise, to 
have imitated thy hardships ; and these times of war will I 
spend in sadness. Paris, thou chieftain, 76 son of Priam, 
beauteous to the destruction of thy family, mayst thou prove 
as cowardly a foe, as thou wast a treacherous guest. Either, 
I could 77 have wished that thou hadst disliked the form of the 

sented by the poets as wearing horns ; because, as some writers say, in the 
war with the Giants, he wore a helmet with two horns. The ' pampinea 
hasta' is the Thyrsus, which he wielded. The persons whom this Deity 
was supposed to touch with it, were supposed to be immediately seized with 
a prophetic frenzy. 

72 Of Phi/Uus.]—Yer. 35. Phyllus was a town of Thessaly. 

73 Steeped in purple.] — Ver. 37. On the Tyrian purple, see the Notes 
to the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 107. 

7i Is he to be.~\ — Ver. 38. This is the answer of Laodamia to those 
who urged her to assume the air and appearance of royalty. It is full of 
affection and tenderness for Protesilaiis. She is so nearly concerned in 
whatever regards him, that she can take pleasure in nothing, unless he is 
a participator, and she affects to imitate him, so far as she can, in his 
very dangers and hardships. 

75 With a helmet. .] — Ver. 39. The helmets of the Greeks and Romans 
were originally made of skin or leather, and were adorned with metal, and 
occasionally, even gold. Those of metal were called ' cassides ;' though the 
words ' galea' and ' cassis' often mean the same object. Felt and sponge 
were among the materials used for lining helmets. The helmet often 
had a crest, which was usually made of horse hair. Cheek-pieces and 
visors were also used. 

76 Thou chieftain.'] — Ver. 43. Instead of ' dux Pari,' some of the 
MSS. have here ' Dyspari ;' which, adapted from the Greek, would mean 
' wretched,' or ' unfortunate Paris.' Homer, in the Third Book of the 
Iliad, 1. 39, uses the expression Avairapi, elSog dpicrre, 'Wretched Pans, 
most beauteous in form.' The Poet here, most probably, had that line in 
view ; and there is every probability that Heinsius is right in thinking this 
to be the correct reading, though Burmann does not admit the cogency 
of his arguments. 

77 Either I could.] — Ver. 45. The making Laodamia here trace back 
the war to its source, is a masterly stroke of art in the Poet. Nothing is 
more common, when misfortune overtakes us, than to examine each 
minute circumstance which may have contributed to it, and to lament 



128 THE EPISTLES OP THE HEEOINES. [EP. XIII, 

Taenarian wife, or that thy own had been displeasing to her. 
Thou, Menelaiis, 78 who art taking too much pains for her 
torn from thee, ah me ! how fatal an avenger 79 to many a 
one, wilt thou be ! Avert, ye Gods, I pray, the direful omen 80 
from me, and let my husband present his vows to Jove, the 
author of his return. But I am fearful ; and so oft as the 
dreadful war recurs to me, my tears flow just like the snow 
when melted by the sun. Ilion, and Tenedos, 81 and Simois, 
and Xanthus, and Ida, are names almost to be dreaded 82 at 
their very sound. 83 

that it was not prevented. Had Paris found Helen less beautiful, he 
would never have thought of carrying her away, or have given occasion to 
that unhappy war, through which Laodamia was deprived of her husband, 

78 Thou, Menelaiis.] — Ver. 47. She certainly speaks like a sensible 
woman, in saying that Menelaiis took too much trouble in recovering his 
worthless wife. 

79 Fatal an avenger.] — Ver. 48. We are usually very quick-sighted 
in what more nearly concerns ourselves. As Menelaiis was determined, 
if possible, to recover Helen, and to avenge the injury done to him by 
Paris, he had engaged almost the whole of Greece to take up arms in his 
cause, and was conducting into Asia an army, headed by the flower of the 
Grecian princes. As Troy was a most powerful city, it was natural to 
think how much blood must be shed in the forthcoming war, and how 
many thousands must lose their lives. Laodamia, in her apprehensions 
for her husband, reflects on this, and then prays the Gods to avert the 
omen from her. She says, that the revenge which Menelaiis is about to 
take, must prove fatal to many ; wives will have to grieve for the loss of 
their husbands, and children for that of their parents ; but she hopes 
that the Divinities will shield her from such a calamity. 

80 Direful omen.] — Ver. 49. It seems to her an ominous presage of 
future woes, that she has just inadvertently called Menelaiis by the epi- 
thet, ' flebilis,' ' Cause of woe.' 

81 Tenedos.] — Ver. 53. This was an island within sight of Troy, to 
which the Grecian fleet retired, while the stratagem of the wooden horse 
was being brought to completion. 

82 To be dreaded.] — Ver. 54. She does not mean to say that the 
names in themselves are repulsive, but that, from the places being the 
scenes of future danger to her husband, she dreads the mention of them. 
Curiously enough, it was these very names that so much enchanted the 
French Poet Boileau. In his Fourth Epistle to the King of France, rela- 
tive to the passage of the Rhine, he complains of the difficulty of intro- 
ducing into rhyme such barbarous names as Woerden, Zuyderzee, Wagen> 
inghen, &c, and regrets that he has not occasion to mention as the 
subject of his verse, the harmonious names of the rivers and cities of Asia, 

' Oh ! que le ciel, soigneux de notre poesie, 
Grand roi, ne nous fit-il plus voisins de l'Asie ! 



EP. XIII.] LAODA.MIA TO PEOTESILATJS. 129 

And no stranger would have attempted to carry her off, had 
he not been able to defend himself ; he well knew his own 
strength. He came, as fame reports, bedecked with much 
gold, and as carrying on his person the wealth of Phrygia ; 
powerful was he in ships and in men, by means of which 
wars are waged ; and how small a part 84 of his kingdom 
attended him ? By these, daughter of Leda, sister of the 
twins, 85 1 suspect that thou wast overcome : 'twas these things, 
I think, that could so injure the Greeks. I dread a certain 
Hector, 86 who he is, I know not. Paris used to say that 
Hector waged the war with blood-stained hand. Of this 
Hector, whoever he is, if I am dear to thee, do thou have a 
care : have his name imprinted on thy mindful breast. When 
thou hast avoided him, remember to avoid the others ; and 
imagine that there is many a Hector there ; and take care and 
say, so oft as thou shall prepare to fight, " Laodamia bade me 
be mindful of her/' If it is ordained for Troy to fall be- 
ll n'est plaine en ces lieux si seche et si sterile 
Qu'il ne soit en beaux mots partout riche et fertile, 
La, plus d'un bourg fameux par son antique nom, 
Veut offrir a l'oreille un agreable son. 
Quel plaisir de te suivre aux rives de Scamandre, 
D'y trouver d'llion la poetique cendre.' 

83 Their very sound.] — Ver. 54. It is very natural for Laodamia to 
express her apprehensions in this manner. The fame and wealth of Troy, 
the number of its tributary provinces, and the improbability that Paris 
would have engaged in an attempt so hazardous had he not known that 
his strength was equal to it, must all, of necessity, appear terrible to her. 
The sentiments are admirably adapted both to the person and her cir- 
cumstances. Fear multiplies dangers and begets a thousand foreboding 
apprehensions. 

84 Small a part.] — Ver. 60. She means to say, that Paris came to 
Greece attended with a large fleet, and a numerous crowd of followers ; 
and yet these were an inconsiderable part of what his kingdom could 
furnish. By this she would insinuate to Protesilaus, that he had engaged 
in a perilous warfare, of which the success was very doubtful. 

w Of the twins.] — Ver. 61. Pollux and Helen, and Castor and Cly- 
temnestra, were born of the two eggs produced by Leda, when embraced 
by Jupiter in the form of a swan. 

86 A certain Hector.] — Ver. 63. We may suppose, that though the 
Trojan warfare had not yet commenced, Hector had already by his 
prowess acquired considerable fame, and that this, though obscurely, 
had reached the ears of Hippodamia. There is great propriety in the 
Poet thus making her speak as if she knew him only by name. 

K 



130 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XIII. 

neath the Argive force ; may if fall as well with thee re- 
ceiving no wound. Let Menelaiis fight, and let him march 
against the opposing foe ; that he may take 87 from Paris, 
what Paris before took from him. Let him rush, on ; and 
him, whom he conquers in the justice of his cause, may he 
conquer, too, in arms : from the midst of the foe is the wife 
to be recovered by her husband. 

Thy case is a different one : do thou only fight to live, and 
to be enabled to return to the affectionate bosom of thy 
spouse. Spare, descendants 88 of Dardanus, this one (I be- 
seech you) out of foes so many : let not my blood flow from 
that body. He is not one whom it becomes to engage with 
the naked sword, and to present an undaunted breast to the 
opposing side. Much more valiantly 89 is he able to engage, 
when he engages in the contests of Love. Let others wage 
the warfare ; let Protesilaiis love. Now I own it ; I wished to 
call thee back, and my feelings prompted me ; but my tongue 
stopped short, through fear of a bad omen. When thou didst 
wish to go forth to Troy from thy father's doors, thy foot, by 
striking against the threshold, 90 gave a presage. When I saw 

87 He may take.] — Ver. 74. This line and the next are wanting in 
some few of the MSS. ; but Heinsius thinks that they are genuine, as 
bearing the authentic marks of being composed by Ovid. In each there is 
a strained attempt at antithesis, which is more oratorical than poetical. 

83 O descendants.'] — Ver. 79. There is considerable beauty in the 
manner in which the Poet makes her impulsively address the Trojans. 
The apprehension of her husband's danger possesses her so strongly, that 
she fancies herself present on the field of battle : she sees the hands of 
his enemies lifted up against him, and, in a transport of passion, she en- 
treats them to spare a life so dear to her. 

89 Much more valiantly.] — Ver. 83. This is most beautifully expressed ; 
she has been no stranger to the ardour of his love, and as her heart is 
wholly devoted to him, she can easily think him invincible in that re- 
spect. But to his abilities as a warrior she is quite a stranger, and is 
moreover desirous that his inclinations may not lead him to attempt to 
excel as such, lest he should be prompted too much to expose himself to 
danger. Contrary to her anticipations, Protesilaiis may be considered, 
from the event, to have shown more bravery than any man* in the Grecian 
army. 

y0 The threshold.] — Ver. 88. Stumbling, and being called back when 
setting out on a journey or expedition, were considered to be ill omens ; 
Laodamia is sensible of this, but she tries to persuade herself, in spite of 
her forebodings, that it might be ominous of her husband's safe return. 



EP. XIII.] LAODAMIA TO PEOTESILAlJS. 131 

it, how I sighed, and silently in my heart did I say, { ' May this, 
I pray, be a presage of my husband being destined to return." 

This, now, do I relate to thee, that thou mayst not be too 
brave in arms ; cause all these apprehensions of mine to vanish 
in the breeze. Fate also 91 destines some one, I know not whom, 
for an unhappy lot, who shall be the first 92 of the Greeks to 
touch the Trojan soil. Unhappy she, who shall be the first 
to lament her husband torn away ! May the Gods grant that 
thou mayst not desire to be thus courageous ! Amid the 
thousand ships, may thy bark be the thousandth, and now 
may it be ploughing the buffeted waves the last of all. This, too, 
do I admonish thee ; go forth the last from thy ship : it is 
not thy native soil for thee to hasten to. When thou shalt 
be returning, urge on thy bark both with oars and sails, and 
place thy foot with speed upon thy own shore. Whether 
Phoebus is concealed, or whether more on high he is visible, 
thou com est to me by day, thou earnest to me by night, an 
anxious care. And yet, by night still more than by day ; night 
is pleasing to the fair, whose neck the arm placed beneath 
supports. In a forlorn bed am I pursuing empty dreams ; 
while I am deprived of the real ones, false joys are soothing me. 

But why does thy pallid form present itself to me ? Why 
does many a complaint arise from thy accents ? I arouse my- 

91 Fate also.] — Ver. 93. The Greeks had heen informed hy the 
oracle, that he of their number who should first set foot upon Trojan 
ground, was doomed to fall. Laodamia, whose fears cause her a thou- 
sand apprehensions, begs that he will not be too rash, and expose him- 
self to an unavoidable fate. In the sequel this proved to be the case ; for 
when the Grecian fleet arrived before Troy, all the Greeks, mindful of the 
prediction of the oracle, scrupled to be the first to land : til], at length, 
Protesilaiis, full of indignation at such unmanly hesitation, boldly leaped 
on shore, and soon after fell by the hand of Hector. 

92 Who is the first. ,] — Ver. 94. The story of Protesilaiis is thus told 
by Hyginus, Fable 103. 'It had been foretold to the Greeks that he 
should perish who should be the first to touch the Trojan shore. When 
the Greeks had come close to the shore, the rest hesitating, Iolaiis, the 
son of Iphiclus and Diomeda, was the first to leap on shore from his 
ship. He was immediately slain by Hector, and all called him Protesi- 
laiis, since he was the first of all to land. When his wife, Laodamia, the 
daughter of Acastus, heard of his death, she asked of the Gods that 
she might be allowed to converse with him for three hours. This was 
granted ; and being brought back [from the Shades] by Mercury, she con- 
versed with him for that space of time. After he had died a second 
time, Laodamia was unable to bear up against her grief.' 

k2 



132 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOIKES. [EP. XIII. 

self from my sleep, and I adore the shadows of the night ; no 
altar of Thessaly 9;i is without the smoke of my frankincense. 
Incense do I present, and on it tears ; sprinkled with which 
the flame bnrns bright, just as it is wont to arise when wine 
is poured upon it. When shall I, embracing thee, safe re- 
turned, in my longing arms, in my weakness even faint away 
from my excess of joy ? When will it be, that happily united 
to me 94 in the same bed, thou shalt relate the splendid 
achievements of thy warfare ? Whilst thou shalt be relating 
these to me, although I shall be delighted to hear them, 
still many a kiss 95 shalt thou receive, many a one wilt thou 
give. Always, amid these, the words of a narrator are agreably 
interrupted ; the tongue is more fluent that pauses with delays 
so sweet. 

But when Troy recurs, and the winds and the deep recur 
to me, flattering hopes, overcome by anxious fears, give way. 
This, too, alarms me, that the winds hinder 96 your ships from 
departing ; you are ready to go, while the waves are unwilling. 
Who could wish to return to his country when the winds are 
against him ? From your country, while the sea forbids, you 
are setting sail. Neptune himself does not afford a passage to 
his own city. 97 Whither are you hurrying ? Return, each of 

93 Altar of Thessaly.~\ — Ver. 112. She means to say that no altar of 
Thessaly is without the smoke of sacrifices, or of frankincense, supplied at 
her expense. 

94 United to me.'}— Ver. 117. Ulysses, on a similar occasion, narrates 
to Penelope the tale of his wanderings. See the Odyssey, Book xxiii, com- 
mencing at line 306. 

95 Many a kiss.} — Ver. 120. It is difficult to conceive any thing more 
finely depicted than this account of Laodamia. In spite of her appre- 
hensions, she cannot forbear, in some degree, alleviating her sorrow with 
the pleasing anticipation of his return and the happy scenes that will 
then pass between them. Ker extreme concern for him will then make 
her anxious to know all that has happened to him during his absence ; and 
he must gratify her curiosity by relating every particular. As he will have 
frequent occasion to mention his dangers and his narrow escapes, her joy to 
find him still safe will repeatedly express itself in fond and endearing 
caresses. These will cause an agreable interruption of his recital and will 
make him enter again upon the story with renewed pleasure. 

96 Winds hinder.} — Ver 125. She alludes to their detention in the 
port of Aulis. 

97 His own city.} — Ver. 129. Because he and Apollo had built the 
walls of Troy for king Laomedon. 



EP. XIII.] LA.ODAMIA TO PEOTESILAUS. 133 

you, to your own homes. Whither do you hurry, ye Greeks ? 
Listen to the winds that forbid you; this delay arises not from 
a sudden accident, but from the Divinity. What is sought in 
a war so great, but a shameless adulteress ? While yet you may, 
turn back your sails, ye Inachian barks. But why 98 do I recall 
them ? Afar be the omen of one recalling," and let a propi- 
tious breeze still the lulled waves. 

I envy the Trojan dames ;* if they behold 2 the mournful 
funerals of their relatives, and if the enemy is not far away, 
still the new-made bride with her own hands will place the 
helmet on her valiant husband, and will hand him the barba- 
rian arms. 3 She will hand him his arms ; and while she shall be 
handing him his arms, at the same moment will she snatch a 

98 But why.] — Ver. 135. There is an infinity of readings for this 
line in the various MSS. The suggestion of Heinsius, as to the whole of 
the line, seems the best : — ' Sed quid ego hos revoco ? revocaminis omen 
abesto ;' ' hos,' referring to the Greeks. 

99 Of one recalling.] — Ver. 135. It has been stated in the Note to 
line 88, that to be recalled when setting put on a journey was a bad omen. 
In the First Book of the Fasti, 1. 561, however, Hercules thinks the 
" revocamen,' by his oxen, when lowing in the cave of Cacus, to be a good 
sign. 

1 Trojan dames.] — Ver. 137. 'Troasin' here is the Greek dative 
plural. Similarly, Ovid uses ' Lemniasin,' and ' heroism ;' while Proper- 
tius has ' Dryasin,' and ' Hamadryasin.' 

2 They behold.] — Ver. 138. This sentiment is beautifully expressed, 
and is a perfect refinement upon her sorrow, while it fully accords with 
that strength of passion which Laodamia breathes throughout the whole 
of the Epistle. So impatient is she under the irksomeness of her hus- 
band's absence, that she is ready to think any condition preferable to her 
own. The Trojan matrons are far happier than herself, in her estima- 
tion, although immediate spectators of the danger and the fate of their 
husbands and children. They can be employed in many pleasing offices 
about them, can buckle on their armour, give them their last injunc- 
tions, and be delivered from the tortures of a cruel suspense. On the 
other hand, it is her sad fate to be distracted between hope and fear, 
while her foreboding mind suggests a thousand dangers, and keeps her in 
a perpetual state of anxiety and alarm. 

3 Barbarian arms.] — Ver. 140. From Homer we learn that the fol- 
lowing were the particulars of the armour of the heroes of the Homeric 
age, and which continued afterwards to be used by the Grecian soldiers. 
The warrior having a tunic on his body, put on, first, the greaves ; 
secondly, his cuirass, with the belt ; thirdly, his sword, which hung from 
the left side by a belt slung over the right shoulder ; fourthly, the large 
round shield, which was also supported by a belt ; fifthly, his helmet ; 
and lastly, he wielded one or two spears. 



134 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROLKES. [EP. XIII. 

kiss (that kind of duty will be pleasing to the two). She 
will detain her husband too, and will give him injunctions to 
return, and will say, " Take care, and bring back these arms 
for Jupiter." He ? bearing in his mind the fresh injunctions of 
his spouse, will fight with due caution, and will have some 
regard for his home. She will take from him his shield at 
his return, and will unloose his helmet, and will receive his 
wearied breast in her bosom. . We are full of uncertainty ; 
anxious apprehensions compel us to fancy every thing to be 
done, that can happen. 

But while as a warrior thou shalt be wielding arms in a dis- 
tant region, I haveawaxen/^wre 4 which represents thyfeatures. 
To it do I 5 utter endearing expressions, to it the words that 
are due to thee ; my embraces does it receive. Believe me, 
the image is more than what it seems to be ; give language to 

4 Waxen figure.'] — Ver. 152. Among the Romans, it was the custom 
to preserve ' cerse,' or ' imagines/ portraits made in wax of their an- 
cestors, which were kept in ' armaria,' ' cases,' or ' cupboards,' in the 
' atria,' or ' halls,' by those who had the- ' jus imaginum.' These are 
generally supposed to have been busts ; and such may be the meaning of 
' cera,' in the present instance, though it may possibly mean only a pro- 
file in wax on a plane surface. Hyginus says, Fable 104, that after 
Protesilaiis was removed from Laodamia by a second death — ' she made 
a brazen (sereum) image of her husband, and placing it in her cham- 
ber, pretended that it was a sacred relic, and began to worship it.' 
The word 'sereum' is supposed by Heinsius to be a corruption for ' cereum,' 
1 waxen' ; and Hyginus may probably refer to the same tradition to 
which Ovid here alludes, although she is here represented to be in pos- 
session of the portrait before she has heard of his death. 

5 To it do /.] — Ver. 153. It may be remarked of this Epistle, as has 
been observed of the poems of Homer, that the Poet, far from showing 
all his strength at the commencement, grows upon his reader, and in- 
creases his admiration the further he proceeds. After the endearing ex- 
pressions of love and tenderness which we meet with in the foregoing 
parts of the Epistle, and the natural images by which Laodamia so faith- 
fully depicts her affectionate feelings, we might suppose it impossible for 
the Poet to pourtray her feelings in a stronger manner. And yet a new 
feature of her affection is reserved for the close.of her Epistle. Her only 
consolation, she says, in the absence of Protesilaiis, is a likeness of him, 
which she often takes a delight in contemplating. To this, by habit, 
she has transferred that fondness which she feels for the original, and 
she bestows on it the same caresses that she has been wont to give to her 
dear Protesilaiis. To such a height is her love carried at last, that she 
is apt to imagine it more than simply an image. She fancies that it only 
wants a voice to be Protesilaiis himself, and is in the habit of uttering her 
complaints to it, as though she expects it to return an answer. 



EP. XIY.] HTPERM^ESTEA TO LT^CEUS. 135 

the wax, and it will be Protesilaiis himself. At this do I look, 
and to my bosom do I press it, in place of my real husband, 
and, as though it could utter words in answer, do I com- 
plain, By thy return, and by thy person, Divinities to me, 
do I swear ; and by the torches of affection and of wedlock, 
equally glowing; by that head, too, which mayst thou with 
thyself restore to me, that I may behold it white with its hoary 
locks ; that I am ready to come as thy companion wherever 

thou shalt summon me ; whether (a thing, alas ! 6 that 

I dread,) or whether thou shalt be still surviving. 

The end of my Epistle shall be closed with this short injunc- 
tion : " If thou hast any care for me, have a care for thyself.'* 



EPISTLE XIV 
HYPERMNESTRA TO LYNCEUS7 

Danaus, the son of Belus, had, by several wives, fifty daughters. 
iEgyptus, his brother, who had the like number of sons, wished them 
to marry the daughters of Danaiis, and applied to him for his per- 
mission. Danaiis, having been informed, by an oracle, that he should 
fall by the hands of a son-in-law, and wishful, if possible, to avoid the 
danger, took ship, and in course of time possessed himself of Argos. 
Enraged to find himself thus slighted, iEgyptus raised a great army, 
and putting his sons at the head of it, sent it into Greece, with an 
express command not to return until they should have either slain 
Danaiis, or obliged him to consent to receive them as his sons-in-law. 
On being pressed by a close siege, Danaiis was under the necessity of 
promising them his daughters ; but they, having previously received 
swords from their father, by his command killed their husbands on the 
night of the nuptials, while, overcome with wine, they were buried 
in sleep. Hypermnestra was the only exception, who spared her hus- 
band Lynceus, and having acquainted him with the treachery of Danaiis, 
advised him to fly with all speed to his father iEgyptus. Danaiis, on 
finding that his commands had been strictly obeyed by all his daughters 
except Hypermnestra, was so enraged at her disobedience, that he 
loaded her with chains, and thrust her into prison. On this, she is 

6 A thing, alas /] — Ver. 164. This is a very happy instance of Aposio- 
pesis ; as she fears to mention death, through fear of its proving an ill 
omen. She proved as good as her word, for she did not long survive her 
unfortunate husband. 

7 Lr/nceus.'] — This name is given as ' Linus' in some of the Editions. 



136 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XIY. 

supposed to have written the following Epistle to her husband, in 
which she entreats him to come to her assistance, or, if she shall be put 
to death before he can bring her relief, to bestow upon her the rites of 
burial. 

Htpeemnestea sends 8 to the only survivor of so many bro- 
thers but recently existing ; the rest of that multitude have 
perished through the crimes of their wives. Shut up, I am con- 
fined in prison, and am fettered with heavy chains. The cause 
of my punishment is, that I was dutiful. I am deemed guilty, 
because my hand trembled at plunging the sword in my hus- 
band's throat ; had I dared criminality, I should have been 
applauded. It is better to be deemed guilty, than in this 
manner to have pleased a parent. I cannot repent of having 
my hands free from blood. Let my father torture me with 
the flames 9 which I have not polluted ; and let him thrust the 
torches in my face, which were present at the nuptial rites ; 
or let him stab me with that sword which, for no good 
purpose, he entrusted to me ; so that I, the wife, may 
perish by a death by which my husband perished not ; still, 
he shall not cause my dying lips to say, " I repent ;" thou art 
not one, Hypermnestra, to regret having been dutiful. 

Let Danaiis and my cruel sisters repent of their crime ; 
this result is wont to attend upon deeds of guilt. My heart 

8 Hypermnestra sends. ] — Ver. 1. Hypermnestra, in her communi- 
cation with Lynceus, skilfully commences with such a representation of 
her case, as may most effectually awaken his resentment, and beget in him 
a desire for revenge. She reminds him that he is the only surviving bro- 
ther of fifty, all the rest having been cut off by the barbarous con- 
trivance of her father, and that all her sufferings are occasioned by her 
tenderness for him. Yet, she says, far from repenting of it, the re- 
flection always affords her pleasure, nor will all the tortures and miseries 
in the world be able to make her own the contrary. She then asks how 
Lynceus can possibly deny his aid to one who has treated him so gene- 
rously, or avoid attempting to rescue her from that bondage into which 
she has been reduced for preserving his life. 

9 With the flames.'] — Ver. 9. She here alludes not only to the flame of 
the marriage torches, which, as typifying her conjugal duty, she says she 
will not violate, but, probably, the fire also, which, together with water, 
on entering her husband's house on the evening of the nuptials, the bride 
was required to touch. This was either symbolical of perfect purity, or 
of an expression of welcome, as the interdiction of fire and water was the 
formula for banishment among the Romans. Hypermnestra then means 
thereby to say that she has not, like the rest of her sisters, violated the 
nuptial contract by the murder of her husband. 



EP. XIV.] HYFERMNESTEA TO LT^CETJS. 137 

shudders at the recollections of that night, denied with blood ; 
and a sudden trembling enervates the bones of 10 my right 
hand. The hand which you might suppose could perpetrate 
the murder of a husband, dreads to write about a murder 
not committed by itself. But still I will attempt to describe 
the dreadful scene. Twilight had 11 just risen over the earth : 
it was the closing portion 1 * of the day, and the first of the 
night. We, the descendants of Inachus, are led into the 
abode of the great Pelasgus, 13 and our father-in-law receives 
his armed daughters-in-law in his house. Lamps edged with 
gold are shining on every side, and propitious frankincense 
is offered on the reluctant altars. 14 The people shout " Hymen !" 
" Hymenseus !" he flies from them as they call. The wife of 
Jove, 15 herself, has fled from her own city. 

10 The bones of '.] — Ver. 18. ' Ossa,' signifying ' the bones' of the fingers 
and hand with which she is writing, seems a more probable reading than 
' orsa.' The latter, however, is preferred by Burmann, who thinks that 
it means • what she has commenced' to write down, which is now inter- 
rupted by her fears. 

11 Twilight had.] — Ver. 21. ' Crepusculum' was the twilight be- 
tween evening and night, while ' diluculum' was the twilight, or dawn, 
between night and morning. 

12 Closing portion.] — Ver. 22. ' Ultima pars lucis, primaque noctis 
erat' is the usual reading, but Heinsius, upon the authority of someMSS., 
gives a very different reading: ' ultima pars noctis, primaque lucis erat.' 
* It was the concluding part of the night, and the beginning of the day.' 
He thinks that the meaning is, that the supper was prolonged till day- 
break, and, that on the brides being conducted to the nuptial chamber, 
they slew their husbands. However, Hypermnestra afterwards speaks of 
their going to sleep ; and she says, that during this, the massacre w r as 
committed, while all Argos was in profound quiet, and that at length, the 
morning approached. She is now describing the ' deductio,' or taking 
home of the brides. 

13 Great Pelasgus.'] — Ver. 23. Instead of ' Pelasgi,' some of the MSS. 
have ' Tyranni.' If we adopt the first reading, the meaning cannot be 
' Pelasgian,' for Danaiis was an Egyptian. The word must consequently 
allude to Pelasgus, the ancient king of Argos, son of Jupiter and Niobe, 
who had perhaps built the palace. The Danaides are called ' Inachides,' 
inasmuch as they were descendants of Inachus; for Inachus was the 
father of Io, who, by Jupiter, had Epaphus, whose son was Belus, the 
father of iEgyptus and Danaiis. 

14 Reluctant altars.]— Ver. 26. ' Foci,' ' the altars,' implies ' the Dei- 
ties,' to whom sacritices offered at marriages solemnized with a design so 
wicked, could not be acceptable. 

15 Wife of Jove.] — Ver. 28. Juno might have been expected to be 



138 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEUOITTES. [EP. XIY, 

Behold ! confused with wine, and surrounded with the cla- 
mour of their attendants, fresh flowers binding 16 their anointed 
locks, the joyous husbands are escorted to their nuptial cham- 
bers, chambers, their sepulchres, alas ! and with their bodies 
they press the beds more befitting their funeral rites. And 
now, overpowered with feasting, and. wine, and sleep, they lay ; 
and there was deep silence throughout unsuspecting Argos. 
Around me did I seem to hear the groans of the dying ; and 
still 17 I did hear them, and it was what I dreaded. My blood 
forsook me, the vital heat deserted my senses and my body ; 
and turning cold, I lay upon my bridal couch. Just as the 
bending heads of corn are shaken by the mild Zephyrs ; just 
as the cold breeze agitates the foliage of the poplars ; either so, 
or even more so, did I tremble. Thou thyself didst lie quiet, 
and the wine which they had given thee was a sleepy draught. 
The commands of a violent father banished fear ; I started 
up, and with a trembling hand I seized the weapon. 

I will not say what is false ; three times did my hand raise 
the sharp sword ; three times did it fall with the sword so 
guiltily wielded. I aimed it 18 at thy throat ; permit me to 

present for a twofold reason. One of her titles was ' Pronuba,' ' the 
guardian of marriage ;' and she was especially venerated at Argos, where 
her chariot was said to be kept, and where the nuptials were being cele- 
brated. 

16 Flowers Mnding.] — Ver. 30. Among the Greeks, both the bride and 
bridegroom were dressed in their best attire on the day of the marriage, 
with chaplets on their heads, and the doors of their houses were hung 
with festoons of ivy and laurel. 

17 And still.'] — Ver. 36. The force of the particle ' tamen,' in this 
verse, deserves particular attention. Hypermnestra would denote by it 
that she was so disturbed by fear, and a consciousness of the baseness of 
the crime, as to be almost deprived of her senses, and to be doubtful 
whether she really heard the groans of people dying around her, or was 
deceived by the suggestions of her fancy. 

18 I aimed it.] — Ver. 47. Instead of this and the following line, as 
existing in most of the MSS., one of the MSS. has these four lines : 

1 Admovi jugulo : sine me tibi vera fateri ; 

Mente sequi dira jussa paterna volens. 
Tandem victa mei saeva formidine patris, 

Audeo per jugulum tela movere tuum.' 

' I applied it to thy throat ; permit me to confess the truth to thee ; in- 
tending, with relentless feelings, to obey the commands of my father. 
At length, overpowered by cruel fears of my father, I dared to aim the 



EP. XIV.] HYPEBMtfESTEA TO LYNCETTS. 139 

confess the truth to thee ; I aimed the weapon of my father at 
thy throat. But fear and duty opposed the cruel deed ; and my 
pure right hand revolted at the task enjoined. Rending my 
purple garments, tearing my hair, in faint accents did I 
utter such words as these : 

" Hypermnestra, thou hast a cruel father. Perform the 
commands of thy parent ; and let him be the companion in 
death of his brothers. I am a woman, and a virgin ; merci- 
ful by nature and by years ; gentle hands are not suited to 
cruel weapons. But come, and while he lies defenceless, imi- 
tate thy valorous sisters : 'tis to be supposed that their hus- 
bands have been slain by them all. If this hand could 
possibly commit any murder, it should be blood-stained 
through the death of its owner. How have they 19 deserved 
death, by possessing their uncle's realms, 20 which must still 
have been given to foreign sons-in-law ? Suppose our hus- 
bands have deserved to die ; what have we done ourselves ? 
Through what crime am I forbidden to be dutiful 1 What 
have I to do with the sword ? What has a maiden to do with 
the weapons of warfare ? The wool and the distaff are more 
suited to my fingers.' ' 

Thus said I ; and as I complained, tears followed their own 

weapon at thy throat.' These lines however are universally considered to 
be spurious. Instead of the 47th hue, as above translated, which is, ' Ad- 
movi jugulo, sine me tibi vera fateri ;' some of the MSS. have ' At rursus 
monitis jussuque coacta parentis : ' But again impelled by the precepts 
and the commands of my parent.' Heinsius thinks that both the 47th 
and 48th lines ought in any shape to be rejected, as being the inter- 
polations of some ignorant grammarian, who imagined them necessary 
to fill up and connect the sense ; and the same Commentator observes, 
that, without them, the connexion is evident, if we merely change the 
' sed,' ' but,' of the next line into ' et,' ' and.' 

19 How have they.'] — Ver. 61. This speech of Hypermnestra is ad- 
mirably adapted to the occasion. The Poet, with great skill, puts into 
her mouth those arguments which are the most suitable for one of her sex, 
and placed under her circumstances. Her father's commands, she says, 
were cruel and unjust ; it was not for a woman to handle deadly weapons. 
Her husband, too, could be charged with no crime that deserved so severe 
a fate; or, even if his guilt should be admitted, hers was not the proper 
hand to punish him. 

20 Their uncle's realms.] — Ver. 61. It must be remembered that 
Danaiis had not only been compelled by iEgyptus to give his daughters in 
marriage to his sons, but that he had been also forced to resign his kingdom 
to his sons-in-law. 



140 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XIV., 

language, and fell from my eyes upon thy limbs. While thou 
didst seek to embrace me, and didst extend thy arms but half- 
awake, very nearly was thy hand wounded by the weapon. 
And now I dreaded my father, and the servants of my father, 
and the dawn. These words of mine dispelled thy slumbers : 
"Haste and arise, descendant of Belus, the only survivor of so 
many brothers who existed so lately ; this night, if thou dost not 
make haste, will be an eternal niyht n ." Alarmed, thou didst 
arise ; all the sluggishness of sleep vanished. Thou didst 
behold in my timid hand the daring weapon. When thou 
didst enquire the cause, I said, " While night permits, escape ; 
while dark night permits, thou dost escape, I remain here" 
It was now morning ; and Danaiis numbered over his sons- 
in-law who had been slain in this massacre. For the comple- 
tion of the crime, thou alone art wanting. He is disap- 
pointed at missing the death of a kinsman in even one in- 
stance ; and he complains that too little blood has been shed. 
I seem torn from the feet of my father, and, dragged by my 
hair, the prison receives me ; this reward did my duteous 
conduct earn. 

From that time does the wrath of Juno, 22 forsooth, endure, 
when a cow was made 23 out of a human being, a Goddess 
from a cow. But 'twas enough that the charming maid was 
turned into the animal that lowed : and that beauteous so lately, 
she could no longer be pleasing to Jove. The new-made heifer 
stood upon the banks of her flowing parent, 24 and in the 

21 Eternal night. .] — Ver. 74. Catullus also calls death 'nox perpetua,' 
' everlasting night/ 

22 Wrath of Juno. 1 — Ver. 85. The Poet has here followed the same 
plan which he has adopted in former Epistles ; that is, he makes Hy- 
permnestra, after the manner of others of her sex, trace her misfortunes to 
very remote events. She considers herself as the object of the vengeance 
of Juno, who still persecutes her race, because Io had been her rival in 
the affections of Jupiter. 

23 Cow was made.] — Ver. 86. The story of Io, in the number of whose 
descendants were Danaiis and iEgyptus, will be found related in the 
First Book of the Metamorphoses. 

24 Flowing parent."] — Ver. 89. The ' liquidus parens' was her sire', the 
river Inachus. The present description of the astonishment of Io, after 
being changed into a cow, is extremely poetical. Ovid had a great com- 
mand of ingenuity ; indeed, critics have, in some instances, accused him, 
perhaps not unjustly, of being too lavish of it. He may possibly 
appear, in the present instance, too diffuse and circumstantial in the 



EP. XIV.] HYPEKMNESTKA TO LYKCETJS. 141 

waters of her sire she beheld horns not her own ; from lips too 
that endeavoured to complain she sent forth lowings, and 
she was alarmed by her figure, alarmed by her own voice. 
Why, unhappy one, dost thou rage ? Why dost thou wonder 
at thyself on seeing thy shadow ? Why dost thou number the 
feet 25 made for thy new limbs ? Thou, that favourite of 
great Jove, so dreaded by his sister, dost satisfy thy excessive 
hunger with leaves and with grass. From the running stream 
dost thou drink, and in astonishment dost thou look upon thy 
shape ; and thou dost tremble at the arms 26 which thou dost 
wear, lest they should strike thyself. Thou too, who of late 
wast so rich that thou mightst seem worthy even of Jove, 
naked, art reclining upon the naked ground. Through the sea, 
over lands, and through kindred streams dost thou run : the 
sea gives thee, the rivers give thee, the dry land gives thee a 
path. What is the cause of thy flight ? Why, Io, 27 dost thou 
cross the spacious main ? Thyself, thou canst not fly from 
thy own features. Daughter of Inachus, whither dost thou 
hasten ? Thou art the same 28 who dost pursue and who dost 
fly. Thou art the leader of thyself as the follower ; thou art 
the follower of thyself as the leader. 

The Nile, 29 which flows into the ocean through seven 
channels, removes the form of the maddened cow from the 
beloved of Jove. Why shall I mention 30 things of remote 

account ; and towards the end of it, lie degenerates into one of his fre- 
quent failings, a mere play upon words. This, however, ought not to 
preclude an acknowledgment of the extreme beauty of the first part of 
the description. Scaliger, with little taste, would strike out thirty-four 
lines, beginning at 1. 83, on the ground of their being misplaced, and not in 
connexion with the rest of the Epistle. 

25 Number the feet.'] — Ver. 94. Because now she has four feet. 

26 At the arms.] — Ver. 98. The meaning is, that seeing her horns in 
the water as she stoops to drink, she is fearful lest they may strike her. 

27 Why, Io.] — Ver. 103. The first syllable of the name Io, is usually 
long. On one occasion, in the 'Ibis', Ovid makes it short. It is doubtful 
whether he here means to address Io by her name, or whether the word 
1 Io ' is an interjection, signifying, with the ' quid,' which precedes, ' Oh 
why ?•' 

26 Art the same.] — Ver. 105. This is an instance of that trifling with 
words by which Ovid frequently disfigures his poetry. 

* 9 The Nile.] — Ver. 107. It was in Egypf, the country of the Nile, 
that Io recovered her former shape, and was first worshipped as a Divinity. 

60 Shall I mention.] — Ver. 109. Instead of the future, 'referam,' 



142 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOIKES. [EP. XIV. 

times, on which hoary old age has been my informant ? 31 Be- 
hold ! my own years are affording things for me to complain 
of. My father 32 and my uncle are at war ; and we are ex- 
pelled from both our kingdom and our home : remotest 
regions 33 receive us thus banished. That savage man singly 
gains possession of the throne and the sceptre ; with a needy 
old man we wander, a destitute set. 34 Of a multitude of 
brothers, thou alone, the smallest portion, dost survive : I lament 
both those who have been put to death, and those who so put 
them to death. For, as many sisters 35 of mine as cousins have 
perished: let either multitude receive my tears. Lo ! I, because 
thou dost survive, am reserved to be tormented by punishment : 
what shall become of the guilty, when, meriting praises, I am 
condemned ? And, once the hundredth of a kindred throng, 
must I, wretched woman, perish, while but one brother 
remains. 

But thou, Lynceus, if thou hast any regard for thy affec- 
tionate cousin, and dost worthily enjoy the blessings that I 

here, Heinsius strongly insists on the present, ' refero,' which he thinks to 
be necessary to the sense, though contrary to the authority of the greater 
part of the manuscripts. It is, however, difficult to discover upon what 
he can found such a conjecture, as the sense is quite clear without 
any alteration. Hypermnestra intimates to her husband that she could 
relate much more that has happened in time past to her family, did not 
the present times afford her ample matter for complaint. Although she 
has related all the story of lo, she has many other subjects to treat of. 

31 My informant.'] — Ver. 110. By the word ' auctor/ she means the 
relating of the history of her family traditionally, in which the narratives 
of the most aged men would be the most likely to prove correct. 

32 My father.'] — Ver. 111. She now comes to what has happened in 
her own time. 

33 Remotest regions.] — Ver. 112. She calls Peloponnesus 'ultimus 
orbis,' either because she fancies it to be a remote quarter of the earth, 
and at a vast distance from Egypt, her native land ; or because, being 
nearly surrounded by the sea, it seems to be the boundary of that part of 
earth. 

34 Destitute set.] — Ver. 114. According to Apollodorus, Danaiis, with 
his daughters, taking ship, fled from Egypt, and landed first at Rhodes, 
whence they proceeded to the Peloponnesus, where they were honourably 
and hospitably entertained by Gelanor, king of Argos. Danaiis afterwards 
dispossessed him of his throne, and seized the kingdom. 

35 As many sisters.] — Ver. 117. Either because she considers her 
sisters as lost to her, since, by their barbarity they have forfeited that 
title ; or because she feels certain that for their crimes they may be con- 
sidered as doomed to the punishment of death. 



EP. XT.] SAPPHO TO PHAON". 143 

have bestowed upon thee ; either bring me aid, 36 or consign 
me to death ; and besides, on a stealthy pile place my limbs 
when bereft of life ; and bury my bones 37 sprinkled with un- 
feigned tears, and let my tomb be inscribed with this short 
epitaph — " The exiled Hypermnestra, as an undue reward for 
her affection, herself received that death, which she averted 
from her cousin." 

I could wish to write more ; but my hand is wearied with the 
weight of my chains ; and my very fears deprive me of strength. 



EPISTLE XV. 
SAPPHO TO PHAON. 

According to some writers, there were two celebrated females of the 
name of Sappho ; the one was a poetess, who flourished in the time 
of Tarquinius Priscus, and was the inventress of the ' plectrum 1 ; 
while the other lived at a later period, and was a native of Mity- 
lene. According to iElian, Phaon was a youth of surpassing beauty, 
who was greatly admired by all the females of Lesbos ; while he him- 
self was deeply enamoured of Sappho, from whom he met with the 
tenderest return of passion. His affection afterwards decaying, he 
deserted her, and sailed for Sicily. Unable to bear the loss of her 
lover, she hearkened to the suggestions of despair, and seeking no 
other remedy for her present miseries, she resolved to throw her- 
self into the sea from Leucate, a promontory of Acarnania, in Epirus, 
which was wont to be done in cases of unrequited love, from which 

35 Bring me aid.] — Ver. 125. According to some authors, Lynceus 
actually did lead an expedition against Danaiis, and slew him, and then 
released Hypermnestra. But Pausanias, and Apollodorus in his Second 
Book, give a different version of the narrative. The former says 
that Danaiis, being enraged at the conduct of his daughter Hypermnestra, 
caused her to be brought up for judgment before an assembly of the 
people, who acquitted her ; on which she consecrated a statue to Ve- 
nus, viKr}<popoQ, ' the giver of victory.' According to Apollodorus, Lyn- 
ceus was afterwards reconciled to Danaiis, and had by Hypermnestra a 
son, whose name was Abas. 

37 Bury my bones.'] — Ver. 127. According to one account, the Dana- 
i'des cut off the heads of their husbands, and threw them into the Lerna, 
while their bodies were buried outside of the city of Argos ; and, by the 
command of Jupiter, Mercury and Minerva purified them from the guilt 
of their crime. It was said, however, by many of the ancient poets, that 
the crime of the Danaides did not pass without due retribution in the In- 
fernal regions, where they were condemned eternally to draw water in 
perforated vessels. 



144 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEKOIKES. [EP. XV". 

circumstance, the place had obtained the name of the Lover's Leap. 
Before doing so, entertaining some fond hopes that she may be able 
to reclaim her inconstant lover, she is supposed to write the present 
Epistle, in which she strongly depicts her misery and distress, occa- 
sioned by his absence, and endeavours, by artful insinuations and pa- 
thetic remonstrances, to inspire in him feelings of compassion and regard 
for her. 

So soon as 38 this letter, from my anxious right-hand, has 
been looked at by thee, is it not at once recognized by thine 
eyes? Or, if thou hadst not read the name of their writer, 
Sappho, 39 wouldst thou have been ignorant whence came these 
short lines. 

38 So soon as."] — Ver. 1. This mode of beginning serves to heighten 
the compassion of the reader for the sorrows of Sappho. She is full of 
the tenderest sentiments of love ; and yet so far has she been neglected 
by the object of her passion, that notwithstanding the mutual endear- 
ments which have often passed between them, he has entirely banished 
her from his remembrance, insomuch that probably he will not even know 
her writing, but by seeing her name subscribed. 

39 Their writer, Sappho.] — Ver. 3. Sappho was a native of the isle of 
Lesbos, and, as she grew up, discovered a great genius for lyric poetry. 
She seems not to have had any great reputation for chastity, even in her 
youngest years, and is even taxed with an improper degree of afteccion 
for her own sex. At length an unhappy passion for Phaon engrossed her 
entire soul, and proved the occasion to her of grievous calamities. At 
first he returned her affection, but soon afterwards neglected her. Love 
had, however, taken too_deep a root in her heart to be extinguished by 
this slight. She resolved to find him at all hazards, and made a voyage 
to Sicily for that purpose. In that island, and on that occasion, she is 
supposed to have written her hymn to Venus, so justly celebrated and ad- 
mired. It failed, however, to procure for her the happiness for which she 
prayed. Phaon still continued obdurate, and Sappho, agitated by her 
passion, resolved to repair to the Acarnanian promontory, on the summit 
of which was a temple sacred to Apollo, where it was usual for despairing 
lovers to make their vows, and to beg the favour and protection of the Di- 
vinity. This done, it was the custom to throw themselves from the preci- 
pice into the sea, where they were sometimes taken up alive. Whether it 
was the shock received from their fall, or some other cause not now to be 
accounted for, it was said that those who had taken this leap and sur- 
vived, never relapsed into their former passion. Sappho tried this rash 
mode of cure, but perished in the attempt. Besides her Hymn to Venus, 
there is also preserved the fragment of another Ode, not less esteemed 
by the learned. It seems to have been intended to represent a lover 
sitting by the side of his mistress, and is generally allowed to be a picture 
painted in the most natural colours. Plutarch tells us, in the famous 
story of Antiochus, that being enamoured of his mother-in-law Stratonice, 
and not daring to discover his passion, he pretended to be confined to his 
bed by sickness. Stratonice was in the room when the physician Erasis ; 



EP. XV.] SAPPHO TO PHAON". 145 

Perhaps, too, thou mayst enquire why my lines are in al- 
ternate measure ; 40 since I am better suited for lyric numbers. 
My blighted love must be mourned ; Elegy is the verse of 
mourning ; my lyre 41 is not adapted to my tears. I burn, 
just as, when the untamed East winds are driving the 
flames, the fertile field blazes, the crops all on fire. Phaon 
is inhabiting the distant fields of iEtna, placed upon Typhosus : 
a heat, not less than the flames of iEtna, is burning me. No 
verses flow for me to adapt to the harmonizing strings ; 
verses, the work of a mind at ease. Neither the damsels of 
Pyrrha, 42 nor those of Methymne, nor the rest of the throng 
of the Lesbian damsels, have any charms for me. Anactorie 4,i 
is disregarded, fair Cydno is worthless for me, Atthis is no 

tratus came to visit him ; and it is probable that his symptoms were the 
same with those which Sappho describes in the above Ode ; as it is said, 
that the physician discovered the nature of his malady from the symptoms 
of love which he had found depicted in the writings of Sappho. By some 
of the ancient authors sbe is called the tenth Muse, and by Plutarch sbe 
is compared to Cacus, the son of Vulcan, who breathed forth nothing b«.it 
flames. From the voluptuous character that is given of her works, perhaps 
it is for the benefit of mankind that they are lost. 

40 Alternate measure.] — Ver. 5. All the compositions of Sappho were 
of the Lyric kind, whereas this Epistle is written in the Elegiac measure; 
consisting of Hexameter and Pentameter lines alternately. From her the 
Sapphic measure derived its name. 

41 My lyre.] — Ver, 8. ' Barbitos,' or ' barbiton,' is supposed to have 
been the name of a musical instrument, somewhat of the nature of the 
lyre, but perhaps more nearly resembling our harp. Theocritus calls it 
7ro\vxopSog, 'many stringed' ; many of these instruments are supposed to 
have had a compass of more than two octaves. 

42 of Pyrrha.]— Ver. 15. Some think that the word ' Pyrrliiades ' 
here refers to the Muses, who are so called from Pyrrha, or Pyrrhaea, an 
epithet of Thessaly, it being usual for the poets to give them appellations 
from the names of the places which they inhabited, among which Thes- 
saly was especially honoured. But the term may, with much more pro- 
bability, be referred to the young women of Pyrrha, a city of Lesbos : 
because she immediately after mentions, the ' Methymniades,' or women 
of Methymne, which was likewise a celebrated city of that island ; and 
then, in the next verse, she subjoins — ' Lesbiadurn caetera turba,' ' the rest 
of the Lesbian females.' 

43 Anactorie.] — Ver. 17. Suidas gives the name of three females, to- 
wards whom Sappho was said to have indulged an impure flame, as Te- 
lesippa, Megara, and Atthis. Tn place of Cydno, Maximus Tyrius gives 
the name of Yupivva, which some think ought to be written 'Hpivva ; for 
Erinnais supposed to have been a contemporary of Sappho, being a native 

L 



146 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XV. 

longer pleasing to my eyes, as formerly. A hundred other 
damsels besides, whom I hare loved not without censure. 
Perfidious man I 44 thou dost possess alone that which be- 
longed to many. In thee is beauty; years too fitted for 
dalliance. Ah ! beauty so fatal to my eyes ! 

Take up the lyre and the quiver, 45 and thou wilt clearly be- 
come Apollo ; let horns be placed upon thy head, thou wilt be 
Bacchus. Both Phoebus loved Daphne, 46 and Bacchus the 
Gnossian 47 maid : neither the one 48 nor the other was ac- 
quainted with lyric measures. But the Pegasian maids 49 dictate 
to me the sweetest lays ; now are my glories sung all over the 
earth ; not even Alcaeus, the partner of 50 my country and my 
lyre, has more fame, although he sings in a loftier strain. 

of the island of Tenos, and one of her favourites. Diphilus, in one of his 
comedies, introduces Archilochus and Hipponax as admirers of Sappho ; 
this is, however, generally discredited, as well as the account which makes 
Anacreon to have been one of her admirers, inasmuch as that poet flourished 
nearly eighty years after her time. The poet Alcaeus was a contemporary 
and rival of Sappho. 

44 Perfidious man.~] — Ver. 20. Some Commentators suggest that the 
word ' improbus ' has here the sense of ' avidus,' and that by its use Sappho 
intends to reproach Phaon as one, who, not content with a moderate share, 
had engrossed all her affections, and had robbed others of that part which 
they had in them. There appears, however, to be no ground for such a 
refinement. ' Improbus ' is evidently used here for ' malus' ; and she 
means to accuse Phaon of treachery in abandoning her. 

45 And the quiver.] — Ver. 23. The lyre and the quiver were the two 
distinguishing insignia of Apollo, as he was remarkable both for his skill 
in music and his dexterity in managing the bow. 

46 Loved Daphne.] — Ver. 25. The story of Daphne is told at length 
in the first Book of the Metamorphoses. 

47 The Gnossian.'] — Ver. 25. Cnossus, or Gnossus, was the place where 
Minos, the father of Ariadne, resided. 

* 8 Neither the one.~] — Ver. 26. She implies that she is superior to 
either Daphne or Ariadne, who were beloved by Divinities, although they 
were unskilled in poetry and music. By putting forward her talents, she 
hopes to atone for the defects of her person. 

49 Pegasian maids.] — Ver. 27. The Muses are so called here from 
7rj/yi7, 'a spring,' which Pegasus was said to have opened with a blow of 
his hoof, on Mount Helicon, their favourite retreat. 

50 The partner of .] — Ver. 29. She calls Alcaeus, * Consors patriaeque 
lyraeque,' because he was a lyric poet of Mitylene, in her native Lesbos. 
He was remarkable for the grandeur and sublimity of his style, for which 
reason the ancients attributed to him a golden ' plectrum.' 



EP. XV.] SAPPHO TO PHA02T. 147 

I am of small stature ; 51 but I have a name that fills all 
lands : I myself have produced this extended renown for my 
name. If I am not fair, Andromeda, the daughter of 
Cepheus, 53 who was swarthy, 53 through the complexion of her 
country, was pleasing to Perseus. White pigeons, too, are 
often mated with spotted ones ; and the black turtle dove is 
often beloved by a bird that is green. 54 If no woman is to 
be thine, but one that shall be able to appear worthy of the* 
for beauty, thine no woman will be. 

But when thou didst read my lines, even beauteous did I 
appear : constantly didst thou swear that me alone did it be- 
come to speak. I used to sing, I remember (lovers remem- 
ber every thing) ; thou used to ravish kisses from me as I 
sang. These, too, thou didst praise, and in every respect did 
I please thee, but especially when amid the transports of love. 
Then more than usual did my amorous flame delight thee ; 
both my every movement and my expressions fitted for dalli- 
ance, and that languor which, when the joys of us both were 
terminated, pervaded our wearied limbs. Now the Sicilian dam- 
sels fall to thy lot, a fresh prey. What have I to do with Les- 
bos ? 55 I would I were a Sicilian damsel. 56 But you, ye matrons 

51 Small stature."] — Ver. 33. Heinsius, who was one of the most learned 
of scholars, here travels a little out of his usual province and turns critic 
in female beauty. " Sappho confesses that she is not beautiful (pulchra), 
because she is so short of stature. Women of that kind are not beautiful 
(pulchrae), but pretty, * venustae :' for beauty, in the opinion of Aristotle, 
is only consistent with largeness of stature." 

52 Daughter of Cepheus.'] — Ver. 35. Tbe story of Perseus and Andro- 
meda, the daughter of Cepheus, is related at length in the Fourth and 
Fifth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

53 Who was swarthy.] — Ver. 36. Being a native of ^Ethiopia, she 
would be swarthy, indeed almost black ; some accounts, however, repre- 
sent her as being a Phoenician. 

54 That is green.] — Ver. 37. She probably means that turtle doves are 
kept in the same cages with parrots, which are generally supposed to be 
meant by the green birds here mentioned ; though one Commentator seems 
to think that peacocks are hinted at : it is possible, however, that he may 
take that to be the meaning of the birds that are called ■ variae ' in the 
preceding line. iElian mentions the turtle dove as a bird remarkable for 
its constancy. 

55 With Lesbos.] — Ver. 52. Lesbos, now called Metelin, was an island 
in the vEgean sea, which received its name from Lesbos, the son of Her- 
mes the Lapithan. It was famous for its vineyards and the excellency of 
its wine. 

56 Sicilian damsel] — Ver. 52. Burmann says, on the authority of the 



148 THE EPISTLES OP THE HEROINES. [EP. XV. 

of Nisa, and ye Nisian brides, 57 send back this wanderer of mine 
from your land. Let not the fictions of his insinuating tongue 
deceive you ; what he says to you he has already said to me. 
Thou, too, Goddess Erycina, 58 who dost frequent the moun- 
tains of Sicily, have a care for thy poetess, for thine I am. 

Does cruel Fortune still pursue the track on which she 
has commenced, and does she ever remain unkind in her on- 
ward course ? Six of my birthdays had gone by, when the 
bones of my father, gathered up before their time, drank in 
my tears. My needy brother, 59 captivated with passion for a 
harlot, 60 endured losses, and those intermingled with shameful 
disgrace. Reduced to want, he plied the azure seas with 
active oars, 61 and now is basely seeking that wealth which he 
disgracefully lost. Me, too, because with fidelity I gave him 
much good advice, he hates ; this did candour, this did an 
affectionate tongue produce for me. And, as though things 
might be wanting to torment me without ceasing, a little 
daughter 62 increases my cares. Thou art added as the last 

Arundelian marbles, that Sappho left her country, and declared herself an 
exile, in the archonship of Aristocles. 

57 Nisian brides.'] — Ver. 54. Nisa was a city of Sicily, not far from 
Syracuse. It was founded by colonists from Megara in Attica, who called 
it Nisa, in honour of their former king Nisus. 

58 Erycina.'] — Ver. 57. Venus was called Erycina, from mount Eryx, 
in Sicily, on which she had a temple, said to have been founded by her 
son iEneas, in her honour. Sicily was called ' Sicania/ from Sicanus, one 
of its former kings. 

59 My needy brother.] — Ver. 63. Sappho had three brothers, Lary- 
chus, Eurigius, and Charaxus, who all were in love with the courtezan 
Rhodope. Sappho here refers to the last, who foolishly squandered away 
all his substance upon her, and then, as some suppose, betook himself to 
piracy to repair his losses. 

60 For a harlot.] — Ver. 63. Herodotus, in his Second Book, Chapter 
105, says that Rhodope was the fellow slave of iEsop the fabulist, and 
that she was redeemed from servitude by Charaxus at a very heavy expense. 
Athenseus, in his Thirteenth Book, Chapter 7, calls her Dorica, and thinks 
that Herodotus has confounded her with another person of the name of 
Rhodope. AopiKrj may, however, possibly have been only an epithet given 
to Rhodope, from Doria, her native country. 

bl With active oars.] — Ver. 65. Petronius Arbiter seems to hint that 
Charaxus turned pirate. From the expressions here used, we might con- 
clude that he adopted the menial occupation of a rower. 

63 A little daughter.] — Ver. 70. The name of this daughter was 
Cleis ; and we learn from Suidas, that she was the daughter of Sappho by 



EP. XV. J SAPPHO TO PHAON. 149 

cause of my complaints ; my bark is impelled by no favouring 
gales. Behold! my locks are lying disheveUed, without any 
order, upon my neck ; no shining gem 63 now presses my 
fingers. In homely garb am I clad ; in my locks there is 
no gold; 64 with no essences of Arabia 65 is my hair per- 
fumed. 

For whom, unhappy wretch, should I adorn myself, or 
whom should I study to please ? The only prompter of atten- 
tion to my person is gone. My heart is tender, and is easily 
hurt by the light shafts of Cupid, and there is ever a cause 
for me always to love. Whether it is that at my birth the 
sisters so pronounced my doom, and no threads devoid of 
feeling were allotted to my life ; or whether it is that my 
pursuits are fashioned to the manners and the skill of 
their mistress ; Thalia causes 66 my feelings to be susceptible. 
What wonder if the age of early youth has captivated me, and 
those years which a male might be enamoured of. I was in 
fear, Aurora, that thou mightst have taken him for Cephalus, 67 
and this thou wouldst have done, but that thy former prize en- 
gages thee. If, Phoebe, thou shouldst look on him, thou who 

a former husband, of the name of Cercyla, or Cercola, a native of the isle 
of Andros. 

63 No shining gem.'] — Ver. 74. During mourning, it was the custom of 
the ancients to lay aside all ornaments, such as rings and other jewels. 

64 Is no gold.] — Ver. 75. She probably alludes to the ' crinale,' or 
golden bodkin, or hair-pin. 

06 Essences of Arabia.] — Ver. 76. She alludes to myrrh or nard, which 
was much used in ointments and perfumes for the hair. The unguents 
or ointments, and soaps used by the ancients were very numerous. 
Among the oils used for the skin or the hair, were the following ; ' men- 
desium,' 'megalesium/ ' metopium,' 'amaracinum,' ' cyprinum,' ' susinum,' 
' nardinum,' * spicatum,' 'jasminum,' ' rosaceum,' and crocus oil; which 
last was considered the most costly. Powders were also used as per- 
fumes ; they w r ere called ' diapasmata.' The Greeks used these expensive 
kinds of perfumes from very early times, and both they and the Ro- 
mans carried them about with them in small boxes of elegant work- 
manship. In the luxurious city of Capua, there was one great street, 
called the ' Seplasia,' which consisted entirely of shops in which un- 
guents and perfumes were sold. 

66 Thalia causes.'] — Ver. 84. Thalia was one of the nine Muses, so 
called from the sweetness of her voice. Her name, as used here, typifies 
the art of poetry. 

67 For Cephalus.] — Ver. 87. The story of Cephalus and Aurora is re- 
lated in the Seventh Book of the Metamorphoses. 



150 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEEOIKES. [EP. XV. 

dostlook on every thing, Phaon would be commanded to prolong 
his slumbers. 68 Venus would have borne him off to heaven in 
her ivory chariot, 69 but she sees that he might be pleasing 70 to 
her Mars as well. Oh, thou! not yet a youth, and a boy no 
longer ; delightful age ! Oh, grace and supreme glory of thy 
age ! Come hither, and, beauteous one, return to my bosom ; 
I ask thee not to love me, but to permit me 71 to love thee. I 
write, and my eyes are bedewed with gushing tears ; see how 
many blots there are in this place. 

If thou wast so determined to go hence, thou mightst have 
gone in a kinder way ; and at least thou mightst have said, 
" Les*bian damsel, farewell !" Thou didst not bear away with 
thyself my tears or my parting kisses. In fact, I did not appre- 
hend 72 what I was so soon to bewail. Nothing of thine have 
I, but ill treatment only ; nor hast thou any pledge 73 of my. 
love to remind thee of me. I gave thee no injunctions ; and, 

68 To prolong his slumbers.'] — Ver. 90. Sappho is here referring to the 
story of Endymion, who was said to have been a beautiful shepherd, who 
having been condemned by Jupiter to a perpetual sleep, or, according to 
wine versions, having been thrown into a trance by Diana herself, was 
then beloved by her. Pliny says, that the origin of this story was the fact, 
that he was the first to discover the course of the moon. 

63 Ivory chariot.'] — Ver. 91. The poets attribute a silver chariot to 
Diana or the moon, and an ivory car to Venus. 

70 Might be pleasing.] — Ver. 92. Venus would be afraid lest Mars 
should fall in love with him. The story of the intrigues of Mars and Ve- 
nus is told in the Fourth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

71 To permit me.] — Ver. 96. Pliny the Elder, in his Twenty-second 
Book, ch. 8, attributes the passion of Sappho to a singular cause : he is 
speaking of the root of a white plant called ' centum capita,' a kind of 
thistle called by us s eringo,' of which this wonderful story is told by him ; 
that its roots bear respectively the resemblance of the two sexes ; that it is 
scarce to be found, and that if the male kind is found by a man, he be- 
comes an object of female passion ; on this account, according to Pliny, 
Phaon was beloved by Sappho. 

72 Did not apprehend.] — Ver. 102. She reproaches him for not having 
given her any notice of his intended departure. 

73 Any pledge.] — Ver. 104. We have here the reason stated why 
friends, at parting, gave and took pledges of mutual affection ; that they 
might serve as memorials of each other, and help to recall the memory 
of the person absent. Crispinus gives another meaning to the words, 
which he thus paraphrases, ' Nee pignora.quse habes mei amoris,te admonu- 
erunt, ut saltern discedens valediceres :' ' Not all the tokens which you have 
received of my affection have moved you so much as to grant me the con- 
solation of one parting farewell.' This does not, however, appear to be 
the meaning of the passage. 



EP. XV.] SAPPHO TO PHAON". 151 

indeed, no injunctions had I to give thee, except that thou 
shouldst be loth to be forgetful of me. / By the God of 
Love (and may he never depart afar from me), and by the 
nine Goddesses, my own Divinities, do I swear to thee, when 
some one, I know not who, said to me, " Thy joys are fled ;" 
for long I could neither weep 74 nor speak. Both tears failed 
my eyes, and my tongue my mouth ; my breast was frozen 
by an icy chill. After my grief had found a vent, I did not 
hesitate for my breast to be beaten, nor to shriek aloud as I 
rent my hair ; in no other manner than if an aiFec donate 
mother is bearing the lifeless body 75 of her son carried off to 
the erected pile. 

My brother, Charaxus, rejoices and triumphs in my sorrow, 
and before my eyes he comes and goes ; 7G and that the cause 
of my grief may appear worthy of reproach, he says, "Why 
is she grieving; surely her daughter still lives?" 77 Shame and 
love 78 unite not in the same object ; all the multitude were 
witnesses ; I had my bosom bared 79 with garments rent. 
Phaon, thou art my care ; thee do my dreams bring before 
me; dreams more fair than the beauteous day. There do I 
find thee, though in distant regions thou art away ; but sleep 
has not its joys sufficiently prolonged. Often do I seem to 
be pressing thy arms with my neck, often to be placing mine 
beneath thy neck. Sometimes I am caressing thee, and am 
uttering words exactly resembling the truth, and my lips 

74 Could neither weep."] — Ver. 110. This is a true picture of grief ; 
and all the different modes in which it can express itself are here admira- 
bly delineated. 

75 The lifeless body .] — Ver. 115. Witness the burial of Iphis by his 
mother, in the story of Iphis and Anaxarete, in the Fourteenth Book of 
the Metamorphoses. 

76 He comes and goes.] — Ver. 118. His frequent intrusions on the 
privacy of her sorrow, either were, or were supposed to be, so many 
methods of insulting her misfortunes. 

77 Daughter still lives.] — Ver. 120. Charaxus, in saying this, hints 
that she could not have shewn more grief had even her daughter died. 

78 Shame and love.] — Ver. 121. This is said in order to serve as a 
reason for what follows. ' Love and shame,' she says, ' are inconsistent ; 
and as I am wholly a slave to the former, the other has no influence upon 
me.' 

79 Bosom bared.] — Ver. 122. This would, and very justly, be looked 
upon as a violation of the rules of propriety ; and the more especially, when 
she knew that the eyes of all people were upon her. 



152 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XV. 

keep watch 80 upon my feelings. I recognize the kisses which 
thou wast wont to give, and which so pleasing thou wast 
accustomed to receive, and so delightful to return. Further I 
am ashamed to relate ; but no particular is omitted. It both 
delights and it pleases me not to be without thee. 

Bat when Titan shows himself, and with himself all things 
besides, I complain that my slumbers have deserted me so 
soon. The caves and groves do I seek, as though groves and 
caves could avail me : they were conscious of thy joys. Thither 
am I borne, bereft of my senses, like one whom the raving 
Erictho 81 has infatuated, my locks lying upon my neck. My 
eyes behold the caverns roofed with the rough pebbles, which 
to me were equal to Mygdonian marble.* 52 I find the wood 
that has oft afforded us a couch, and overshadowing, has 
covered us with its dense foliage ; but I find not the master 
both of the wood and of myself. A worthless spot is the 
place ; he was the recommendation of the spot. I recognised 
the pressed grass, 83 of the turf so well known to me; by 
our weight were the blades bent. I lay me down, and I 
touched the place on the spot in which thou wast; the 
grass, once so pleasing, drank in my tears. Moreover, the 

80 Lips keep watch.'] — Ver. 130. Whether sleeping or waking, her lips 
are ever on the watch to express the intensity of her feelings. 

81 Raving Erictho.] — Ver. 139. Erictho was the name of a famous 
sorceress of Thessaly, whose aid Pompey sought, according to Lucan, in 
tne Sixth Book of his Pharsalia. Ovid here uses the name as signifying 
any enchantress, species pro genere. 

82 Mygdonian marble.'] — Ver. 142. 'Marble of Phrygia;' because it was 
considered the best. The poets call Phrygia ' Mygdonia,' because the 
latter region adjoined it on the South. 

* 3 The pressed grass.] — Ver. 147. According to this, Phaon must 
have forsaken her and left the island at the same moment. The whole 
of this passage, from the 122nd line, is wrought with extreme beauty. 
Critics have observed that this Epistle seems to be the most finished 
of the works of Ovid ; and the present passage certainly appears to cor- 
roborate that belief. What can be more beautifully painted than her 
enraptured dreams ? Or how can imagination form a more interesting 
scene than that of her retiring to the caves and groves which they had 
formerly frequented together, and soothing her mind with the remem- 
brance of past joys ? Ovid has omitted no circumstance that may possibly 
serve to heighten the description, or awaken the attention of the reader ; 
and if some portion should perchance seem to be too highly coloured, the 
impassioned character of Sappho will furnish some excuse for the Poet. 



TP. XT.] SAPPHO TO PHAO". 153 

branches, their foliage laid aside, appear to mourn, aDd 
no birds send forth their sweet complaints. The Daulian 
bird" 4 alone, that most disconsolate mother, who took so cruel 
a vengeance on her husband, sings of Ismarian Itys ; Sa the 
bird sings of Itys, while Sappho sings of her forsaken love. 
Thus much : all else is silent as though in the midst of night. 
There is a sacred spring, limpid, and more pellucid than the 
glassy stream ; many suppose that this harbours a Divinity ; 
over it the lotus, s6 delighting in waters, spreads its brandies, it- 
self alone a grove : sr the earth is green with the springing turf. 
"When here I was reclining my limbs, wearied with weeping, 
one of the Naiads stood before my eyes. She stood, and she 
said, "Since thou art being consumed by an unrequited flame, 
the Ambracian land 88 must be sought by thee. b9 Phoebus, 

8i The Daulian bird.'] — Ver. 154. Progne, in the character of the 
nightingale, is here called ' Daulias,' from Daulis, a city of Phocis, where, 
according to Thucydides, her hushand Tereus reigned. It is remarkable 
that Ovid differs here from the common tradition, in making Progne to have 
been changed, not into a swallow, but a nightingale ; still, there are some 
authors who agree with him in this statement. 

& Ismarian Itys.] — Ver. 154. See the story of Tereus and Prognp, 
and the fate of Itys, in the Sixth Book of the Metamorphoses, where Ovid 
represents Progne as having been changed into a swallow, and Philomela 
into a nightingale. 

86 71ie lotus.] — Ver, 159. The ' lotus' is a tree much spoken of by the 
ancients. It grew in various parts of Africa, being, according to Diodorus 
Siculus, not uncommon in Egypt. The fruit of this tree was said to be 
so pleasing to the taste, that they who had once eaten of it could never 
be prevailed upon to return to their own country, or abandon the climate 
in which it grew. Hence the word ' Lotophagus' became a common term 
for a person who had forgotten his native country ; and the phrase ' lotum 
gustavit,' was a proverb signifying that a man had been long absent from 
home. Its wood was much used for making ' tibiae/ ' pipes,' or ' flutes.' 

87 Itself a grove.] — Ver. 160. He means to say, that the branches of 
this tree, by spreading out to a great length, and then bending to- 
wards the ground, formed a kind of grove. The banyan tree of the East 
sends forth branches, which bending downwards take root, and thus one 
tree literally often forms a grove. Perhaps the ' lotus ' here alluded to may 
have had a similar quality. The word ' lotus ' is supposed to have been 
applied to three different kinds of tree, besides the plant which we call 
' trefoil,' or ' melilot.' 

s ^ Ambracian land.] — Ver. 164. She alludes to Acarnania, situate in 
the Ambracian gulf. 

59 Sought by thee.] — Ver. 165. Leucadia was an island off the coast 
of Acarnania, which was formerly said to have joined the shore by au 
Isthmus. Actium was the more ancient name of the island. 



154 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XV, 

from on high, looks down upon the sea so far as it extends ; 
the people call it the Actian and the Leucadian sea. Hence did 
Deucalion, 90 inflamed with love for Pyrrha, throw himself, and 
dash the waters with unharmed body. There was no de- 
lay ; love changing, touched the most obdurate ' breast of 
Pyrrha; Deucalion was cured of his flame. This result 
does that place afford. At once repair to lofty -Leucas, and 
fear not to leap 91 from the rock." 

When she had thus advised ; with her words, she departed. 
Chilled with fear, I arose ; and my swelling cheeks did not 
withhold my tears. I will go, Nymph, and I will repair to the 
rocks so pointed out ; afar be fear, conquered by frenzied pas- 
sion. Whatever it shall be, my fate shall be better than now 
it is. Ye breezes, arise ; this body of mine has no great 
weight. Do thou too, gentle Love, place wings beneath 92 
me as I fall ; that I may not, by my death, be the censure of 
the Leucadian waves. Then will I hang up my lyre 93 to 
Phoebus, our common attribute ; 94 and under it shall be this 

90 Deucalion.'] — Ver. 167. How Deucalion and Pyrrha repeopled the 
earth, will be found in the First Book of the Metamorphoses ; but the story 
here told of them is not so generally known. 

91 Fear not to leap.] — Ver. 171. The names of many that threw them- 
selves from this rock, which was called ' the Lover's Leap/ have been pre- 
served by ancient writers. Athenaeus, Bookxiv. ch. 3, mentions a female, 
named Calyca, who leaped thence, on being slighted by her lover Enathlus, 
and was killed. Menander, as quoted by Strabo, Bookx., says that Sappho 
was the first who took this fatal leap. See the amusing articles in Addison's 
Spectator, Nos. 223, 227, 229, and 233. 

92 Wings beneath.] — Ver. 179. In the solemnities performed in honour 
of the Actian Apollo, it was customary to doom some guilty criminal to 
be thrown from the top of the Promontory. This was supposed to 
avert the anger of the God, and to render him propitious. It was, how- 
ever, the merciful custom to furnish the victim with wings which might 
perhaps, by buoying him up, break his fall, and to have several small 
boats waiting below, that, if possible, he might be picked up out oi the 
sea ; after which he was banished from the territory. It is very possible 
that in this line Sappho alludes to this custom. 

95 My lyre.] — Ver. 181. 'Chelys ' is from the Greek word %£Xvf, or 
XeXwvjj, ' a tortoise.' The first lyres, or ' citharse,' were made by fitting 
strings on the shell of a tortoise, as we are informed by Homer in his Hymn 
to Mercury, where he ascribes the invention to that God. ' Testudo,' or ' tor- 
toise,' is often used, among the Latin poets, to signify a 'lyre,' or a 'cithara.' 

94 Common attribute.] — Ver. 181. The lyre was common, ' communis,' 
to Sappho and Apollo, because he invented it. and she was in the habit of 
composing Lyric music to be played upon it, or to be sung in concert with it. 



EP. XT.] SAPPHO TO PHAOTT. 155 

line and a second one : "Phoebus, I, the poetess Sappho, have, 
in gratitude, 95 offered my lyre to thee ; it is suited to me, 
to thee is it suited." But why, in my misery, dost thou send 
me to the Actian coasts, when thou thyself canst trace back 
thy retreating steps ? Thou canst be more beneficial to me 
than the Leucadian waves ; both in beauty and in merit, thou 
shalt be Phoebus to me. Canst thou endure, thou more 
hard-hearted than the rocks and waves, if I die, to have the 
discredit of my death ? And how much 96 more becomingly 
could my bosom be pressed to thine, than to be given to be 
hurled down from the rocks? This is the breast, Phaon, 
which thou wert wont to praise, and which so often seemed 
the seat of genius to thee. I wish that now it was eloquent. 
Grief checks my skill, and all my genius is impeded 98 by my 
woes. My former powers avail me not for my lines ; my 
* plectrum ' is silent in grief; in grief my lyre is mute. 

Ye ocean daughters, Lesbian dames, a progeny both mar- 
ried and destined to marry; ye Lesbian fair, names celebrated 
by the iEolian lyre ; 99 ye Lesbian dames, 1 who, beloved by me, 
have caused my disgrace, cease to come a throng, to my lyre. 

93 Have, in gratitude.] — Ver. 183. Grateful for a two-fold reason, be- 
cause he had preserved her life in the leap, and because he had effectu- 
ally cured her passion. 

96 And how much.] — Ver. 191. This is Sappho's last attempt to 
move the obdurate Phaon. She has acquainted him with her resolution 
to throw herself headlong from Leucate. The despair which has been 
the result of his neglect, has driven her to make trial of this dangerous 
remedy, and nothing but a change in his behaviour can now induce her 
to desist from her purpose ; for her passion is so strong as to make life in- 
supportable without him, and all other attempts to remove it have proved 
ineffectual. Sappho has omitted no circumstance that may tend to soften 
the human heart to emotions of pity. 

38 Is impeded.'] — Ver. 196. It is commonly said that necessity is the 
mother of invention. Such is often the fact but, as in the case of 
Sappho, it will sometimes overwhelm the mind with a tide of sorrow, 
and thereby render it entirely incapable of attending to the means of self- 
preservation. 

95 JEolian lyre.] — Ver. 200. According to Strabo, Lesbos was among 
the chief states of JSolia. Sappho wrote in the jEolic dialect, of which 
Bacchus was said to be the inventor. 

1 Lesbian dames.] — Ver. 201. Sappho here calls upon the Lesbian 
maids, whom she had formerly loved and taught. Critics have observed 
that the repetition here used by the Poet, is not only intended to make the 
lines more affecting, but is also an imitation of Sappho's manner of 



156 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XV. 

Phaon has deprived me of all that before was pleasing to you. 
(Ah, wretched me ! How very nearly had I called him 
mine !) Make him to return ; your poetess will return as 
well. He gives the impulse to my genius ; he takes it away. 
And what do I avail by prayers? Is his savage breast 
moved? Or is it still obdurate, and do the Zephyrs waft 
away my unavailing words ? Would that the winds, which 
bear away my words, would bring back thy sails ; that act, 
wast thou but wise, even thus late, were befitting thee. Or 
art thou now returning, and are the votive offerings 2 prepared 
for thy bark ? Why dost thou rend my heart with delays ? 
Unmoor thy ship. Venus, who sprang from the waves, 
smooths the waves for the lover. The breezes will speed thy 
course ; do thou only unmoor thy ship. Cupid himself, sit- 
ting at the helm, will be the pilot ; with his tender hand, he 
himself will open and gather in the sails. 

Or, if it is thy pleasure that Pelasgian 3 Sappho should be 
far away ; (yet, thou wilt not find any reason why I am wor- 
thy of thy aversion); — at least, 4 let an unkind letter tell me 
this, in my misery ; so that the lot of the Leucadian waves 
may be tried by me. 

writing ; as she took great delight in this figure, which is called Anaphora 
and Epanophora. 

2 Votive offerings. .] — Ver. 211. It was the custom to send congratu- 
latory presents to friends who had escaped from tempest or other immi- 
nent dangers. 

3 Pelasgian.'] — Ver. 217. Straho tells us that the Pelasgi wandered 
all over Greece,, and had left their names in many places. ' Pelasgis 
Sappho' therefore means ' Sappho of Lesbos,' a Greek colony having been 
established there. 

4 At least.'] — Ver. 219. Instead of ' hoc saltern,' some read here, 
' saltern.' Whatever the reading, Heinsius entirely rejects this distich 
as not being the production of Ovid, and is not able to conceive what 
it can mean. Crispinus, however, the Delphin Editor, thinks that the 
sense is very evident, and he thus paraphrases it : * Si velis (inquit) longe 
a' me fugere. moneat saltern epistola, ut huic malo remedium in aquis 
Leucadiis quaeram :' ' If it is your intention to abandon me, at least let a 
letter from you tell me so ; that, as a remedy for it, I may seek a death 
in the Leucadian waves.' 



EP. XVI.] PAEIS TO HEI/O". 157 



EPISTLE XVI. 
PARIS TO HELEN. 

Paris, the son of Priam, who is also sometimes called by the name of 
Alexander, haying, in the contest for the Golden Apple, given his de- 
cision in favour of Venus, received from that Goddess a promise of 
the possession of Helen, at that time the most beautiful woman in the 
world ; and for that purpose, he sailed for Sparta, where he was kindly 
receivedby her husband, Menelaiis. After sometime, Menelaiisdeparted 
for Crete ; and when leaving home, he particularly recommended his 
guest to the care of Helen. Paris, being deeply enamoured of her, 
considered that this opportunity ought not to be neglected, and en- 
deavoured by every artifice to gain her. For this purpose he is sup- 
posed to write the present Epistle, in which he informs her of his 
passion, and endeavours to insinuate himself into her good graces, by 
all those engaging qualities and charms which are supposed to recom- 
mend a lover ; while, studying the foibles of the fair sex, and knowing 
the influence of appearance upon them, he omits nothing which he 
imagines may engage the affection of Helen, or make her husband 
appear contemptible. He then urges her to comply with his desires, 
and endeavours to palliate the guilt by telling her that he wishes to 
make her his wife ; and he concludes with pressing her to fly with 
him to Troy, where he promises her a life of pleasure and affluence, 
and assures her that he shall be enabled to defend her against all 
attempts to recover her. 

Daughter of Leda, I, the son of Priam, send to thee that 
health which can be presented to me, thee alone bestowing it. 
Shall I speak 5 out ? Or is there no need to declare a name 
well known, and is my love more evident than I conld wish 
it to be ? I could, indeed, wish it to he concealed, until a 
time 6 should be presented, that would not have apprehensions 
mingled with joy. But in vain do I dissemble ; for who can 
conceal a fire, which always betrays itself by its own light ? 
Still, if thou dost expect me to add language as well to 
actions, * I burn.' Thou here hast words, the interpreters of 

5 Shall I speak.] — Ver. 3. This implies the notion of one debating 
with himself, and doubting whether he shall speak his mind with plain- 
ness) or, conscious of the badness of his cause, rather leave her to conjec- 
ture it from hints and signs. 

6 Until a time.] — Ver. 6. That is to say, ' Till 1 should understand that 
I am not disagreable to you, and by the return of a like passion, have a 
pleasure unmixed with those doubts and anxieties which so much perplex 
me at present.' 



158 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XVI. 

my feelings. Pardon the confession, I entreat thee; and 
read not over the rest with a severe countenance, but with 
one that well becomes thy beauty. 

Already 7 it is a pleasing matter, that, my letter received, 
gives me hopes that I, as well, may be received in the 
same manner. May this be fulfilled ; and I trust that the 
mother of Love, who has prompted me to this, may not 
have promised thee in vain. For, that thou 8 mayst not offend 
through ignorance, I am brought hither by a Divine admoni- 
tion ; and no feeble Divinity favours my undertaking. A great 
prize, 9 indeed, do I claim, but not other than my due; Cytherea 
has promised thee for my nuptial chamber. Under her guid- 
ance have I made my hazardous passage in the ship built by 
Phereclus, 10 from the Sigaean shore, over the extended seas. 
She has granted me propitious breezes, and favouring gales ; 
for, sprung from the sea, she has a control over the sea. 
May she persevere ; and as she calms the raging of the 

7 Already.'] — Ver. 13. Some Commentators have found a source of 
aiffieulty in the use of the word 'jamdudum.' But it is obvious that 
Paris is implying an anticipated pleasure, and is promising himself be- 
fore-hand that his letter will be well received, which forethought gives 
him much joy. We may suppose, as he seems to have been a man of 
some discernment in the affairs of love, that he found that Helen had 
no aversion to him, and that he thence was able to judge of the suc- 
cess of his Epistle. So in the ' Eunuchus' of Terence, Gnatho, speaking 
to Thraso, says, respecting the courtesan Thais — 

' Quando illud, quod tu das, expectat atque amat, 
Jamdudum amat te ; jamdudum illi facile fit quod doleat.' 
* When she is expecting and longing for the presents which you give her, 
it is a sure sign that she is already in love with you — .' 

8 For that thou.} — Ver. 17. This is an artful insinuation on the part 
of Paris. He would persuade Helen that he has been prompted by a 
divine impulse to come in quest of her, and thus prevail upon her, from 
a principle of religion, to favour his addresses ; thus making her believe 
that a denial, in his case, will be no less than opposition to the will of 
heaven. 

9 A great prize .] — Ver. 19. He considers her favour his due because, 
in anticipation of it and in the hope of a full performance of the promise of 
Venus, he had rejected the glorious offers made him by Juno and Minerva. 

10 Built by Phereclus.'] — Ver. 22. Phereclus was the builder of the 
fleet of Paris, ' the commencement of woe' to Troy, as Homer calls it. 
He was slain in the Trojan war by Meriones, as Homer says, ' because 
he knew not the decrees of the Gods ;' in allusion to an oracular response 
which had warned the Trojans not to meddle with naval matters. 



EP. XYI.] PAEIS TO HELE^. '159 

ocean, so may she calm that of my breast ; and may she bring 
home my desires to their harbour. These flames have I 
brought, 11 I have not found them here ; these were my cause 
for so long a voyage. 

For neither threatening storms nor mistaken course has 
driven us hither ; the Tsenarian land was sought by my 
fleet. And do not suppose that I ploughed the deep in a ship 
that carried merchandize ; may the Gods preserve the wealth 12 
that I have. Neither do 1 come as a spectator to the cities of 
Greece ; the towns of my own kingdom are more opulent 
than they. It is thee that I seek ; thee, whom the resplendent 
Venus has promised for my couch. Thee did I sigh for, 
before thou wast known to me. I beheld thy features with 
my mind, before I did with my eyes ; fame was the first har- 
binger of the beauty of thy features. And yet 13 it is not to 
be wondered at, if, as is not unlikely, struck from afar by the 
missile darts from thy bow, I am in love. Thus has it pleased 
the Destinies, 14 whom, that thou mayst not strive to resist, 
hear a narrative 15 related with strict truthfulness. 

Still was I retained in the womb of my mother, my birth 
being impeded ; now was her womb pregnant with its le- 
gitimate burden ; she seemed to herself, in a vision of sleep, 

11 Have I brought.] — Ver. 27. He tells her that he was enamoured of 
her by reason of the description he had heard of her charms, before he had 
ever seen her. 

12 Preserve the wealth.'] — Ver. 32. He means to say, ' Wealth can be 
no motive to me for exposing myself to the hazards of storms and tem- 
pests ; I have already abundance of riches, if the Gods will only preserve 
them to me.' Besides, he is probably afraid that Helen may look down 
upon him, if she should suppose him to be a mere merchant. 

13 And yet.] — Ver. 39. Most of the Commentators are of opinion that 
all the lines from 39 to 143 are spurious, and ought to be rejected, as 
not worthy of the genius of Ovid, and the work of some busy interpo- 
lator. They are wanting in all the older MSS. Scaliger, however, 
seems to be content to consider only the four lines, from 1. 39 to 1. 42 in- 
clusively, as spurious. 

14 The Destinies.] — Ver. 41. He here puts the strongest complexion 
on his passion, as he attributes it to the will of the Gods, or the decrees 
of Fate, in order that he may be the better able to influence Helen. 

13 Hear a narrative.] — Ver. 42. He now makes a long digression to 
explain the causes and origin of his love. He begins with the circum- 
stances of his birth ; and he states the reason of his being exposed on mount 
Ida and bred among shepherds, the judgment which' he gave relative to 
the three Goddesses, and the motives which had determined him to visit 
Sparta. 



160 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XVI. 

to be bearing from her teeming womb a huge naming torch. 
Alarmed she arose, 16 and she related the fearful visions of the 
dark night to the aged Priam, and he to the soothsayers. A 
soothsayer prophesies that Ilion shall be burnt through the 
flames of Paris ; 17 surely that was the torch of my breast 18 as 
it now exists. Although, 19 to appearances, I seemed to be of 
the lower order, 20 my beauty and the vigour of my mind were 
signs of my concealed nobleness of birth. There is a spot in 
the shady vales of the middle of Ida, retired, and filled with 
pitch-trees and holm oaks ; a spot which is cropped neither by 
the teeth of the harmless sheep nor of the goat that delights 
in rocks, nor by the broad mouth of the browsing cow ; 
hence, looking down upon the walls of Dardania, 21 and the 
lofty abodes, and the ocean, I was leaning against a tree. 
Behold ! by the tread of feet 22 did the ground seem to me 

16 Alarmed, she arose.] — Ver. 47. Spurious though these lines may 
possibly be, the expression here, ' territa consurgit,' savours strongly of 
vidian composition. In the First Book of the Fasti, 1. 435, he has the 
words ' Territa consurgens Nymphe.' 

17 Flames of Paris.} — Ver. 49. This is a Prolepsis, or anticipation, in 
applying to himself, by name, what the prophet said about the flames of 
Troy : he was not then born, and of course could not have been mentioned 
by name. 

18 Torch of my breast. ] — Ver. 50. The flames which were foretold by 
the seers as destined to threaten Troy, are here interpreted by Paris to mean 
the flames of love that were then raging in his breast. This is inge- 
nious, as it was perfectly natural for a mind that could attend to nothing 
but what concerned its passion, to put this construction on the predic- 
tions of the soothsayers. 

19 Although.] — Ver. 51. This and the following line are thought by 
Heinsius to be misplaced, and properly to come after the ninetieth line ; 
' Regius agnoscor per rata signa puer,' The remark cannot fad to be 
allowed to be just by all who consider the two passages with any degree 
of attention. 

20 The lower order.] — Ver. 51 . Priam had ordered the child, as soon as 
born, to be exposed on mount Ida ; but the persons whom he had employed 
for that purpose, being charmed with the beauty of the infant, took care 
of him, and he long passed for the son of one of the royal shepherds. 

ul Walls of Dardania.'] — Ver. 57. Ovid here improperly uses the word 
' Dardania,' as signifying the city of Troy with its walls, it really meant 
the region or district in which Troy was situate. Pliny the Elder applies 
the word to the isle of Samothrace. 

- 2 Tread of feet.] — Ver. 59. This thundering step, which shook the 
earth, poi*tended the approach of Divinities, however strongly it might be 
in contrast to the sethereal nature and the sex of the three beauteous 
Goddesses. 



EP. XVI.] PAEIS TO HELEN. 161 

to be moved ; I will speak the truth, though it will scarcely 
gain credit for the truth. There stood before my eyes, im- 
pelled by his swift wings, the grandson of the great Atlas and 
of Pleione ; 23 (it was allowed me to see, may it be allowed 
me to relate what was seen); and between the fingers of the 
Divinity was a golden wand. Three Goddesses, too, at the same 
moment, Venus, and Juno with Pallas, placed their charming 
feet upon the grass. I was astounded, and a chilling dread 24 
had raised my hair erect, when the winged messenger 25 said 
to me, " Lay aside thy fear. Thou art the umpire in a dis- 
pute on beauty ; settle the contest between the Goddesses ; 
which one of them is deserving to surpass the other two in 
charms. 3 ' And that I might not refuse, he gave the injunc- 
tion in the words of Jupiter; and then straightway 26 he 
mounted aloft to the stars by the sethereal track. My mind 
gathered strength, and on a sudden confidence arose, and I 
feared not to scrutinize each one of them with my eyes. 
They were all deserving of the victory ; and, the umpire, I 
was grieved 27 that all could not have their cause triumphant. 
But still, of them, one even pleased me more than the others, 
so that you might know that it was she by whom love is in- 
spired. And so great 28 was the desire for superiority, that 

23 And of Pleione."] — Ver. 62. Maia, the mother of Mercury, by Ju- 
piter, was the daughter of Pleione and Atlas. Oceanus and Tethys were 
the parents of Pleione. 

24 A chilling dread.] — Ver. 67. ' Horror ' must here mean ' dread,' or 
simply • fear '; for there was nothing terrible in the appearance of the 
Divinities, and that alone could have produced horror, in our sense of the 
word. 

25 Winged messenger.] — Ver. 68. The insignia of Mercury were the 
' talaria,' or wings on his ancles, the ' petasus,' or winged cap, and the 
1 caduceus,' or wand, which he bore as the herald of the Gods. 

26 Then straightway .] — Ver. 72. Ovid says, that when Mercury had 
delivered his message, he betook himself to the heavens. The painters, 
however, frequently represent him as though remaining to assist Paris in 
the adjudication. 

27 I was grieved.]— -Ver. 75. Heinsius suggests ' querebar' at the end 
of this line, instead of ' verebar '; and this is the more likely to be the 
true reading, as the next line in its present state is not correct Latin. The 
suggestion of Heinsius ought no doubt to be adopted, and ' causa sua ' 
to be substituted for ' causam suam,' the meaning being, ' and I, the judge, 
was sorry that they could not be victorious, each in her own cause.' 

23 And so great.] — Ver. 79. The poets were so sensible of the desire 

M 



162 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XVI. 

tliey were eager to canvass for my decision with large pre- 
sents. 

The wife of Jove 29 offered me a kingdom, his daughter 
valour, I myself was in doubt whether I would wish to be 
powerful, or whether to be brave. Venus sweetly smiled, 
and said, " Paris, let not either offer, full of anxious fears, 
influence thee ; I will give thee an object to love ; and the 
daughter of beautiful Leda, herself still more beauteous, shall 
rush into thy embrace." Thus she spoke ; and equally pre- 
ferred for her gift and for her beauty, she turned her victorious 
steps towards the heavens. In the meantime (the Fates, 30 I 
suppose, commencing to be propitious) I was recognised to be 
the son of the king by undoubted signs. His palace was 
joyous, his son being recovered after so long a time ; and 
Troy added this day as well to her festive ones. And as I 
languish for thee, so did the fair ones languish for me ; thou 
alone canst gain what is the wish of so many. And not only 
have the daughters of kings and of chieftains courted me, 
but even to the Nymphs 31 ha^e I been an object of anxiety 
and affection. But a disdain 32 of all these came upon me, 

implanted in the female mind for excelling in beauty, that they have here 
represented the Goddesses as not exempt from this weakness. The affront 
given to Pallas and Juno, by the decision of Paris in favour of Venus, was 
resented by those Goddesses upon the whole Trojan nation : and so un- 
forgiving did they prove, that their anger was not appeased before they 
had overthrown that ancient kingdom. 

29 The wife of Jove.] — Ver. 81. Such is the infirmity of human na- 
ture, that as soon as a decision is to be given, it seems to be a matter of 
course that a bribe should be offered, and an equal matter of course that 
it should be accepted. 

30 The Fates] — Ver. 89. Hitherto the Fates had proved adverse to 
Paris : he was an exile from his father's house, deprived of his rights as a 
prince of the royal blood, and humbly and meanly educated. On his ori- 
gin becoming known, he was removed into the family of Priam. 

31 To the Nymphs.'] — Ver. 96. We have seen this in some measure con- 
firmed in the Epistle written to him by the Nymph (Enone. He was also 
beloved by Arisba, the daughter of Merops, king of Lesbos. As it is his 
design to commend himself, and to set a high value on his affection, he falls 
into the common foible of lovers, of exaggerating when speaking of himself. 

32 But a disdain.] — Ver. 97. Before this line the Palatine and some 
other ancient MSS. have these two lines ; 

' Quas super (Enonen facies mutarer in orbem 
Nee Priamo est ad te dignior ulla nurus.' 
Heinsius has no doubt of their having been composed by Ovid, but thinks 



EP. XVI.] PAKIS TO HELEN. 163 

after, daughter of Tyndarus, there was a hope given of a 
union with thee. When awake, I beheld thee with my sight, 
at night, in my imagination, when my eyes lay overpowered 
with placid slumbers. 

What wilt thou effect by thy presence, who, not yet seen, 
didst thus charm 1 I burned, 33 although far thence was the 
name. Nor could I any longer defer those hopes, in 
seeking the object of my desires over the azure paths. The 
Trojan pine groves were hewed down with the Phrygian axe, 
and each tree that was useful on the waters of the deep ; the 
lofty Gargarian chain 34 was despoiled of its towering woods, 
and steep Ida afforded me numberless planks. The oaks were 
bent, destined to be the foundation of swift ships ; and the 
curving keel was knit to the ribs. Sail-yards did we add, and 
sails attached to the masts ; and the bending stern received 
the painted Gods. 35 Besides, on the ship in which I was 
borne, attended by a little Cupid, stood the Goddess 36 em- 
blazoned, the promiser of her endearments. After the finish- 
ing hand was given to the fleet when built, forthwith was I 
bidden to go on the iEgean waves. 37 

that as the first is extremely corrupt, for that very bad reason, the distich 
has been rejected by the Copyists. In the second line, instead of ' ad te,' 
'a te' seems to be the proper reading; and, allowing for the corruptions, the 
meaning seems to be, ' But be you preferred before them, and even be- 
fore (Enone, than whom, after yourself, there is no one more deserving to 
be the daughter-in-law of Priam.' It is supposed by some Commentators 
that Helen refers to these lines in the Seventeenth Epistle, 1. 195-6. 

1 Tu quoque dilectam multos, infide, per annos 
Diceris CEnonen destituisse tuam.' 

33 / burned.'] — Ver. 102. Alluding still to the flame of his love as the 
subject of the vision of Hecuba, he calls Helen his ' ignis,' or ' flame,' a 
mode of expression common with the Latin poets. 

34 Gargarian chain.'] — Ver. 107. Gargara was a part of mount Ida, 
where stood a town of the same name, so called from Gargarus, the son 
of Jupiter and Larissa. 

35 Painted Gods.] — Ver. 112. He here alludes to the figures of the 
Gods that were placed at the stern of the vessel, as its protectors or 
tutelary Divinities. 

36 Stood the Goddess.] — Ver. 113, He means that Venus and Cupid 
were represented as the tutelary Deities of his own ship. 

37 JEgean waves.] — Ver. 116. If we adopt • jubebar ' as the reading in 
this line, his meaning must be, that he was bidden, or ordered, to go to 
Sparta by the Fates. Heinsius conjectures ■ lubebat,' or ' juvabat,' ■ he 

M 2 



164 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XVI. 

Both my father and my mother, by their entreaties, opposed 
my desires, and delayed my proposed voyage with affectionate 
remonstrances. My sister, Cassandra, 38 too, just as she was, 
with dishevelled locks, when now my ships were ready to set 
sail, exclaimed, "Whither dost thou rush 1 Flames wilt thou 
bring back with thee ; through these waters thou knowest 
not how vast the flames that are sought." Truth-telling wa3 
the prophetess ; the flames she mentioned have I found, and 
raging love burns in my yielding breast. I went out of har- 
bour, and employing propitious gales, (Ebalian Nymph, 39 I 
neared thy shores. Thy husband received me with hos- 
pitality ; this, too, happened 40 not without the design and 
authority of the Divinities. He, indeed, showed me what- 
ever in all Lacedsemon was worthy to be shown and remark- 
able. But for me who desired to behold 41 thy celebrated 
beauty, there was nothing else by which my eyes could be 
attracted. When I beheld thee, I was amazed ; and smitten 
with thy charms, I felt my heart, to its very centre, palpitate 
with renewed passion./ Features like to those, so far as I 
recollect, had Cytherea, 42 when she came to submit to my 
decision. If thou hadst come together with her to that con- 
test, the victory 43 of Venus would have been a matter of dis- 
chose,' or 'it pleased him to go.' Although he here says that Priam op- 
posed his going, some accounts state that he was sent on an embassy 
from Priam to Menelaiis. 

33 Sister, Cassandra.] — Ver. 119. The prophecies of Cassandra on this 
occasion have been already referred to in the Epistle of (Enone. 

39 (Ebalian Nijmph.]—Ver. 126. (Ebalus, the father of Tyndarus, the 
putative father of Helen, gave to Laconia the name of (Ebalia. 

40 This too, happened.] — Ver. 127. This is ' said speciously, to cloak 
his gross ingratitude towards Menelaiis, who had so kindly entertained 
him. 

41 Desired to behold.] — Ver. 131. It is worthy of remark how skilfully 
Paris takes the opportunity, from the circumstance of the civility of 
Menelaiis in showing him all the things worthy to be seen in Sparta, to 
give the matter an ingenious turn, by representing his thoughts as so much 
engaged with the idea of Helen, that he could regard nothing else, and 
was full of impatience to see her. 

43 Had Cytherea.] — Ver. 136. This is the highest compliment that he 
can possibly pay her. 

43 The victory.] — Ver. 138. It is well known that those who were 
victorious in the Olympic games, were crowned with branches of the palm- 
tree. Hence the word ' palma' came to be used for the badge of victory 
in all cases. 



EP- XYI.J PAKIS TO HELEN. 165 

pute. Fame, indeed, has given a wondrous report of thee, 
and no land is there that is ignorant of thy charms ; nor 
is there anywhere thy equal in Phrygia, nor has any other 
one among the beauteous, from the rising of the Sun, an 
equal fame. And dost thou believe me in this ? Thy glory 
is still inferior to the truth ; and fame has almost proved 
grudging as to thy charms. More do I find here than she 
has eve?' promised, and thy glories are eclipsed by their 
source. 

With good reason, then, was Theseus inflamed, 44 who knew 
every thing ; and thou didst seem a prey worthy of a hero 
so great ; while, after the custom of thy nation, thou, didst 
contend naked in the * paleestra ' 45 shining with oil ; and thou, 
a woman, wast mingled with' the naked men. I commend 
him for carrying thee off ; I only wonder that he ever restored 
thee ; so valuable a prize should have been firmly held. First 
should this head have parted with my bleeding neck, before 
thou shouldst have been torn from my nuptial chamber. And 
would my hands have eve*r proved willing to let thee go ? And 
would I, while living, have permitted thee to depart from my 
bosom ? If thou must have been restored, still, first would I 
have gained some pledge of love ; and my passion should not 
have proved entirely harmless. Either thy virgin charms 
should have been tasted of by me, or, at least, that, 46 which, 
thy virginity safe, could have been snatched from thee. Do 
but yield thyself, and thou shalt know how great is the con- 
stancy of Paris. The flame of the funeral pile alone shall 
put an end to my flame. 

Thee have I preferred to the kingdom, which once the most 

44 Theseus inflamed.'] — Ver. 147. Who had carried her off when a 
girl, as already stated. 

45 The ' pal<Estra.'~] — Ver. 149. The word ' palaestra' must be taken here 
to mean the place for exercise in wrestling, which was much cultivated by 
the Laconians, with whom the young women mingled with the men in a 
state of nudity on such occasions ; to which circumstance, reference is 
here made. The ' palaestrae' are thought, by some writers, to have been 
appropriated to the use of the boys and youths, while the ' gymnasia' were 
intended for the men. They were, however, most probably intended as 
places of exercise for the ' athletae,' or persons who contended in the 
public games. 

46 Or, at least, that.]— Ver. 159. Kisses, to wit. 



166 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XVI. 

.powerful wife, and sister of Jove promised to me. And, so long 
as I could throw my arms around thy neck, the valour that 
Pallas, offered was despised by me. And I regret it not, nor 

"shall I ever seem to have made a foolish choice ; 47 my mind 48 
continues firm in its resolve. Only, do not thou permit my 
hopes to be vain ; I entreat thee, thou, who dost deserve 
to be acquired through labours so great. I do not, of ignoble 
birth, sigh for an alliance with a noble spouse ; and thou wilt 
not, believe me, be my wife to thy discredit. Thou wilt find, 
shouldst thou enquire, a Pleiad 49 and Jupiter, in my pedigree ; 
not to mention my intervening ancestors. My father wields 
the sceptre of Asia, than which region none is more fertile, 
hardly to be contained within its boundless limits. Innu- 
merable cities, and golden roofs, 50 wilt thou behold; and 
temples, which thou wilt say are becoming to their Gods. 
Thou wilt see Ilion, and the walls strengthened with lofty 
towers, built by the harmony 51 of the lyre of Phoebus. Why 

47 A foolish choice.'] — Ver. 167. ' Legisse' is used here in the sense of 
' eligisse.' ' That I chose you in preference.' 

48 My mind.] — Ver. 168. After this line, in some of the MSS., the 
following distich is found — 

' Cum Venus et Juno, Pallasque in vallibus Idee, 
Corpora judicio supposuere meo.' 

' When Venus, and Juno, and Pallas, in the vales of Ida, submitted their 
persons to my judgment.' It is however generally considered as spurious, 
inasmuch as, Paris having already given a full account of his decision, we 
cannot well suppose that he would trouble the reader with an unnecessary 
repetition. 

49 A Pleiad.] — Ver. 173. Paris boasts here that he is descended of 
an ancient race, deducing his pedigree from Jupiter and Electra, the 
daughter of Pleione, and one of the seven Pleiades that were said to have 
been translated into heaven among the stars. By her Jupiter had Dar- 
danus, of whom Virgil says, ' Dardanus lliacae primus pater urbis et 
auctor.' From her, Paris derived his descent, through Ericthonius, Tros, 
Ilus, Laomedon and Priam. 

50 And golden roofs.] — Ver. 177. It has been always a custom of 
Oriental nations, to gild the roofs of their chief buildings. The Romans 
adopted this practice in several instances, after the fall of the Republic. 

51 By the harmony.] — Ver. 180. When Neptune and Apollo built the 
walls of Troy for Laomedon, the latter, by the sweetness of his music, 
was said to have made the stones of themselves come together, and take 
their places in the walls of the city 



EP. XVI.] IAEI3 TO HELEN. 167 

should I speak to thee of the multitude and the number of 
its men 1 Hardly can that country contain its inhabitants. 
In dense crowds will the Trojan matrons 52 meet thee: and my 
halls will hardly contain the Phrygian brides. 

0, how often wilt thou say, " How poor is our Achaia ! one 
house here wiH contain the entire riches of a city of ours ." 
And be it not becoming me to despise thy Sparta ; 53 the land 
in which thou wast born, is ever dear to me. Still, Sparta is 
poor : 54 thou art worthy of the attire of opulence ; this place is 
not suited to such gracefulness. It becomes those charms to 
employ rich ornaments to an unlimited extent, and to abound 
in luxurious refinements. 55 Since thou beholdest the dress 
of our race of men, what sort of dress dost thou suppose that 
the Dardanian dames have ? Only show thyself kind ; and 



52 Trojan matrons.'] — Ver. 182. As Paris wishes Helen to abandon her 
husband and her native land, it is material to let her know that the change 
will be advantageous to ber. This is the reason why he commends the 
wealth and opulence of Phrygia, and extols it above that of Lacedaemon. 
He endeavours to tempt her by a prospect of the honours that will be 
paid to her upon her arrival in her new kingdom, and skilfully dwells 
on that which he thinks most likely to engage the notice of the fair sex, 
namely, dress and magnificence. Sparta, and Greece in general, in those 
days, were far removed from the affluence of Asia. There, the refinements 
of luxury, even then, were probably earned to a considerable height. 

53 Thy Sparta.'} — Ver. 187. Paris adds this the more effectually to 
win the regard of Helen. He represents his affection for her as being so 
great, that it induces him to respect every thing in any way connected 
with her. Even Sparta, however savage and unpolished, and however 
much a stranger to the refinements of Asia, is yet dear to him, because it 
is her country. 

54 Sparta is poor.] — Ver. 189. Some Commentators would force Odd 
to be guilty here of a gross anachronism, as referring to the institutions 
of Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver, who flourished long after the death of 
Paris and the destruction of Troy. As Sparta avowedly came very far 
short of the Asiatic cities, in wealth and magnificence, it must naturally 
have appeared to Paris as a poor and inconsiderable place, in comparison 
with that which he had left ; Troy then being the capital of Asia Minor, 
and one of the most opulent cities in the world. He merely calls it' parca,' 
in comparison "with the magnificence of Asia, and not in relation to its 
peculiar political institutions. 

65 Luxurious refinements.] — Ver. 192. 'Novis' may here be properly 
translated ' recherches ;' if, indeed, that word may be considered as adopted 
in the English language. 



168 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEEOINES. [EP. XTT. 

do not aespise 36 a Phrygian for a husband, thyself a damsel 
born in the Therapneean territory. 57 

He was of Phrygia, 53 and born of our blood, who now 
mingles the water 59 with the nectar to be drank of by the 
Gods. The husband of Aurora 60 was a Phrygian ; still did 
the Goddess, who terminates the closing career of night, bear 
him off. A Phrygian, too, was Anchises, 61 with whom the 
mother of the winged Loves was pleased to associate on 
the mountain ridges of Ida. And I think that Menelaiis, our 
looks and years compared, will not be worthy to be preferred 
to me in thy estimation. 

At least, I shall not be presenting thee with a father-in-law, 62 

66 Do not despise. - ] — Ver. 195. He alludes, probably, to the well-known 
fact, that the inhabitants of Greece in general, affected to have a great 
contempt for the Phrygians. 

57 Therapncean territory.'] — Ver. 196. Therapnse was the name of a 
district of Laconia upon the river Eurotas, not far from Sparta. 

58 Of Phrygia.] — Ver. 197. Paris is not satisfied with enlarging upon 
the wealth and grandeur of his nation ; he produces examples to prove 
the great regard that had been always shewn to the Phrygians, and the 
success they had met with, in attempts of the kind which he is now 
meditating. The story which he here refers to is that of Ganymede, the 
son of Tros and the brother of Ilus, the grandfather of Priam, who was 
said to have been carried away while hunting on Mount Ida, by Jupiter 
in the shape of an eagle, who made him the cup-bearer of the Gods, in 
the place of Hebe, the Goddess of Youth. 

59 Mingles the water.] — Ver. 198. It must be remembered that the 
ancients mixed water with their wine ; generally in the proportion of 
three parts of water to two of wine. The cup-bearer of the Gods would 
have to mix their nectar, which they drank in the place of wine, perhaps 
in the same proportions. 

60 Husband of Aurora.] — Ver. 199. Tithonus was the brother, or, as 
some writers say, the son of Laomedon. Aurora admired him for his 
beauty, and conferred upon him the gift of immortality ; but not being 
able to avoid the inconveniences of old age, he at last found life an in- 
supportable burden, and desired to be changed into a grasshopper. By 
him, Aurora was the mother of Memnon, who came to the assistance of 
the Trojans, and was slain by Achilles.- 

61 Was Anchises.] — Ver. 201. He was the son of Capys. Venus, for 
his extreme beauty, fell in love with him, and by him was the mother of 
iEneas, whom she bore on the banks of the Simoi's. 

62 A father-in-law.] — Ver. 205. Paris here alludes to the shocking 
revenge of Atreus, the father, or, according to some accounts, the adoptive 
father of Menelaiis. Atreus and Thyestes were brothers, the sons of Pe- 
lops and Hippodamia, the former of whom had married Mrope. Thyestes 
being enamoured of her, used all possible means to seduce her, and at last 



EP. XVT.] PABIS TO HELE3". 169 

who drove away the bright light of day ; and who turned 
away the frightened steeds from his banquet. The father, 
too, 63 of Priam, is not one stained with blood by the murder of 
his father-in-law, and one who names the Myrtoan waves by 
his crime. 64 No apples are caught at 65 by my great-grandfather 
in the Stygian waves, and no moisture is longed for by him in 
the midst of the stream. And yet, what matters this, if one 
descended from these possesses thee ? And if Jupiter is com- 
pelled to be a father-in-law 66 for one of this house. Oh, dread- 
ful fate ! whole nights does he unworthily possess thee and 
enjoy thy embraces. But by myself hardly 67 art thou seen, 
the table at length being placed before us ; and that time, as 

succeeded. Incensed at this injury, Atreus at first banished him ; but, 
resolving on a more barbarous revenge, he recalled him, and inviting him 
to a banquet, ordered the two children he had by her to be killed, and 
presented to him as a dish at the feast. The Sun is said to have gone 
back in his course, being stricken with horror at the sight. Atreus is sup- 
posed to have been the first to remark the eclipse of the Sun, whence it 
is thought that the last part of the story may have had its rise. 

e3 The father, too.] — Ver. 207. Atreus, the father of Pelops, slew 
(Enomaus, the king of Pisa, the father of Hippodamia, whom he after- 
wards married. 

64 By his crime.~\ — Ver. 208. Myrtilus, the charioteer of (Enomaus, 
betrayed him, at the request of Atreus ; and when the latter had won the 
race, Myrtilus asking for the promised reward, Atreus cruelly flung him 
into the sea, which thence received the name of ' Myrtoan.' 

65 Are caught at.] — Ver. 209. Tantalus was the father of Pelops, and 
consequently the great-grandfather of Menelaiis. Entertaining the Gods 
at a banquet, to make trial of their divinity, he killed his son Pelops, and 
set him before them baked in a paste. They all abstained from the feast 
except Ceres, who tasted a part of his shoulder, for which reason, when 
he was restored to life, he had a shoulder given to him of ivory. As a 
punishment for his impiety, Tantalus was condemned in hell to perpetual 
hunger and thirst, and was obliged to stand up to the chin in water, with 
apples close to his mouth, without being able to touch either. Some 
however say that his crime was divulging the secrets of the Gods, and 
his punishment was continual fear of a great stone ever ready to fall upon 
his head. Ovid, in the Amores, Book iii., represents the latter to have 
been his crime, but gives the same account of his punishment as above 
stated, as the penalty of his impious and cruel conduct. 

66 A father-in-law.] — Ver. 212. Inasmuch as Jupiter was the father 
cf Helen. 

67 By myself hardly.] — Ver. 215. From this, it would seem that 
Menelaiis was somewhat cautious of introducing his wife at first to Paris ; 
or else that it was not the custom for the ladies to be in the society of 
male friends in the early part of the day 



170 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEKOIKES. [EP. XYI. 

well, has many things to give pain. May such feasts fall to the 
lot of my enemies, as I often meet with when the wine is set on. 
I am disgusted with 08 my entertainment, when, as I look on, 
that barbarian throws his arms around thy neck. I am burst- 
ing, and I envy him, (and yet why should I thus mention all 
particulars ?) when he is warming his limbs with thy garments 
thrown around him. 

But when thou art giving him kisses, in my presence, with no 
reluctance, 69 taking up the cup I place it before my eyes. My 
glances I cast downwards, when he is holding thee closely 
locked in his embrace ; and the food, but slowly masticated, 
increases in my mouth. 70 Often have I given sighs ; and I have 
observed thee, wanton one, not suppressing thy smiles at my 
sighs. Often do I wish with wine to soothe my passion ; but it 
increases, and drinking is flame upon flame. And that I may 
not see many things, turning my neck, I recline ; 71 but, the 
same instant, thou dost call back my gaze. I am in doubt 
what to do : 'tis pain to me to see these things, but it is a 
still greater pain to be away from thy presence. So far as I 
can and may, I strive to conceal my frenzied desire ; but 
still my dissembled passion is evident. 

Nor am I deceiving thee ; thou knowest of my wounds, 

68 Am disgusted with.'] — Ver. 219. The description given by Paris, of 
what he has suffered, when forced to witness the mutual endearments of 
Helen and Menelaiis, is finely conceived, and set off with all the embel- 
lishments that imagination can give. Paris, as a lover, was attentive to 
every motion and every look. He could not bear that Helen should show 
any signs of tenderness even for her own husband ; and, on such occa- 
sions, his uneasiness was so great, that he was scarcely able to conceal it. 
At the same time, as he found that Helen was not entirely ignorant of 
what he was enduring for her sake, he has omitted no opportunity of 
giving her hints of his passion. While he has pretended to be giving 
only the history of others, he, under borrowed names, has given her a de- 
scription of his love, and has made her acquainted with all his tender sen- 
timents. He sometimes has even counterfeited drunkenness, that he 
might use greater liberty, without having any particular notice taken of it. 

69 No reluctance.'] — Ver. 223. The ideas of etiquette between husband 
and wife before company seem to have undergone a considerable revolution 
since those times ; indeed, Paris, even had he not been an admirer of 
Helen, might well put the cup before his eyes. 

70 In my mouth.] — Ver. 226. He means to say that he cannot swal- 
low his food, by reason of his agitated feelings. 

71 I recline.] — Ver. 231. It must be remembered, that he is repre- 
senting them as following the Roman and later Greek fashion of reclining 
at meals. 



EP. XVI.] PAEIS TO HELEN. 171 

thou knowest of them ; and would that they were known to 
thee alone ! Alas ! how often when the tears have started, 
have I turned away my face, that he might not enquire the 
cause of my weeping ! Alas ! how often, warmed with wine, 
have I related the passion of youths, addressing each word 
to thy features ! Under a feigned name, too, have I made a 
discovery of myself. I, if thou knowest it not, was the real 
lover in those instances. Moreover, that with greater freedom 
I might employ my discourse, not on one occasion only has in- 
toxication been feigned by me. Thy breasts, as I remember, 
were exposed, thy tunic hanging loose ; and bared, they gave 
access to my eyes ; breasts more fair than either the bleached 
snow or than milk, and than Jove, 72 when he embraced thy 
mother. While I was astounded on beholding them (for by 
chance I was holding a cup), the wreathed handle 73 slipped from 
between my fingers. If thou dost give kisses to thy daughter: 
at once do I joyously snatch them 74 from the youthful hps of 
Hermione. And sometimes, lying at my length, 75 1 hum old- 
fashioned love songs ; and sometimes, by nods, I give secret 
signs. Lately, too, have I ventured with kindly words to 
address Clymene and iEthra, 76 the chiefs of thy attendants : 
they, saying nothing else to me, but that they were afraid, left 
my entreaties half-finished as I besought them. 

72 And than Jove.'] — Ver. 250. On which occasion he transformed 
himself into a swan, a hird remarkable for its whiteness. 

73 The wreathed handle.] — Ver. 252. The ' pocula,' or drinking cups, 
had handles probably on both sides. The wreathed or twisted handle 
was much in fashion among the Romans. The ' pocula' were filled from 
the ' cratera,' or ' bowl,' with the ' cyathus,' or ' ladle.' 

74 Snatch them.] — Ver. 254. This he could easily do, under the mere 
pretext of carressing so young a child. 

75 At my length ] — Ver. 255. Assuming an air of carelessness, he 
sang his own passion, under the pretext of repeating old-fashioned love 
songs. 

*6 Clymene and Mthra.] — Ver. 257. According to some authors, this 
./Ethra was the wife of Theseus ; but this couid not be the fact, as she 
must thus have been long dead. Some writers again say, that these were 
two female relatives of Menelaus, left by him to keep watch upon Helen. 
Dictys the Cretan says that Clvmene was the daughter of ^thra, and 
that they were both carried off by Paris, in company with Helen. He 
further says, that after the taking of Troy, they fell by lot to Demophoon 
and Acamas, the sons of Theseus, but that they afterwards fell into the 
hands of Mnestheus, on the sons of Theseus being banished from Athens. 



172 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XYI. 

that the Gods would grant thee to be the reward of 
some great contest, and that the conqueror might have thee 
for his bed ; just as Hippomenes 77 bore off the daughter of 
Schoeneus, 78 the reward of the race, just as Hippodamia 79 
came to the Phrygian breast ; just as the stern Alcides broke 
the horn of Achelous, 80 while, De'ianira, he was a candidate 
for thy embraces ; on those terms, 81 my valour would have 
proved more bold ; and I should have known thee to be the re- 
sult of my toils. Now nought remains to me, beauteous one, 
but to entreat thee, and, if thou wilt permit me, to embrace 
thy feet. thou ornament ! thou glory, here present, of 
thy two brothers ! thou ! worthy of Jove for thy husband, 
hadst thou not been the daughter of Jove ! Either with thee 

77 Hippomenes.'] — Ver. 263. Paris, the further to convince Helen how 
deeply he is enamoured of her, assures her that there is no hazard that he 
will not gladly submit to for her sake. He proceeds so far as to express a 
wish that she had been designated by the Gods as the reward of some 
dangerous enterprise, that he might show her how cheerfully he would 
engage in the boldest attempt, when forced by the hope of so glorious a 
prize. Upon this, he takes the opportunity to mention others who have 
before engaged in the like attempts, that he may represent them as 
illustrations of that courage in which he is prepared to excel. 

78 Of Schoeneus.] — Ver. 263. The story of Hippomenes and Atalanta 
is told in the Ninth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

79 Hippodamia.] — Ver. 264. He alludes to Pelops, the Phrygian, who 
gained^ Hippodamia, on conquering her father (Enomaus in the chariot 
race, under the circumstances before mentioned. 

30 Of Achelous.] — Ver. 265. The contest of Hercules and Achelous, 
while contending for the hand of De'ianira, is related in the Ninth Book 
of the Metamorphoses. 

81 On those terms.] — Ver. 267. Paris, after enumerating these in- 
stances, speaks of his own courage as being in no way inferior, if he can 
only find a proper field for its exertion. However, like one expert in the 
art of insinuating himself into the favour of the softer sex, he has recourse 
to prayers and flattery, and paints the violence of his passion with all the 
lively strokes that occur to his imagination. But before he comes to the 
point, that he may by degrees prepare her for the discovery of his inten- 
tions, he endeavours to make her believe that he has been moved to address 
her by a heavenly impulse, and that to resist, will be to oppose the will 
of the Fates. This is well contrived by the Poet : for, as it was not 
his design to represent Helen, as a vicious character, but as one who, 
having naturally a tender and amorous complexion, was gained over by an 
insinuating address, he found it necessary to give this turn to the matter, 
that Helen might not be too much shocked at the proposal, or reject her 
lover's addresses with indignation and disdain. 



EP. XVI.] PARIS TO HELEN. 1/3 

for my wife will I re-enter the Sigaean harbour, or else, an ex- 
ile, will I be buried in Tsenarian ground. In no slight degree 
has my breast been pierced with the point of the arrow ; the 
wound has penetrated even to my bones. 

Truly did my sister prophesy this to me, (for now I call it 
to mind) that it would come to pass that I should be trans- 
fixed by a heavenly dart. Refrain then, Helen, from despis- 
ing a passion sent by the Fates : and then mayst thou have the 
Gods propitious to thy desires. Many things indeed occur to 
me ; but that in thy presence I may say still more, receive 
me in thy couch, in the silence of the night. Art thou 
ashamed, and dost thou dread to defile conjugal love, and to 
violate the chaste rights of lawful wedlock ? Ah, too silly 
Helen, 52 not to call thee foolish, dost thou suppose that such 
beauty can be free from criminality? Either thou must change 
thy features, or thou must not be cruel ; great is the strug- 
gle 83 of beauty with chastity. Jupiter takes pleasure in these 
stealthy caresses, resplendent Venus delights in them ; 'twas 
these stolen caresses, in fact, that gave thee Jove for thy father. 

82 Too silly Helen.'] — Ver. 285. We have here a collection of those 
arguments and deluding speeches, with which men of gallantry in all ages 
have laid siege to the fair. That shame and reluctance which she would 
be likely to feel upon his proposal, he ascribes to simplicity and want of 
knowledge of the world. Beauty, he tells her, was formed for soft and 
tender complexions : and the practice even of the Gods might convince her 
that to listen to him will be no crime. He further urges her, on the ground of 
the opportunity they have, in consequence of the absence of her husband, 
whom he endeavours to depreciate, and to make to appear contemptible in her 
eyes. In a word, opportunity and importunity are here, as in too many 
other instances, wielded as his two most efficient and powerful weapons. 

83 The struggle.'] — Ver. 288. The sentiment conveyed in this line is 
one very commonly to be found among the poets, many of whom do not 
scruple to take it for a general maxim. For the sake of human nature, it is 
to be hoped that in this general assertion they have utterly miscarried. 
It must be remembered, that beauty ever attracts the attention of the 
world, and that they who are distinguished by it, are more likely to be 
exposed to attacks and solicitations ; besides, a false step in them is 
always more noticed, and makes a greater noise than in the case of another. 
Hence it is, that both history and private observation often furnish more 
examples of frailty in females of extraordinary beauty, than in those of 
less dazzling exterior. This has occasioned the multitude, who are never 
deep thinkers, to throw that reproach upon beauty itself, which is 
merely imputable to those accidental circumstances which usually accom- 
pany it. 



174 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOINES. [EP. XYI. 

Hardly canst thou possibly be chaste, if there is anty influ- 
ence 84 in the blood of thy ancestors, being the daughter both 
of Jove and of Leda. 85 

Still, mayst thou then 80 be chaste when my Troy shall receive 
thee; and let me, alone, I pray, prove thy cause for crime. Now, 
let us commit a fault which the conjugal hour may amend ; if 
only Venus has not promised me in vain. But to this step 
does even thy husband persuade thee by deeds, and not by 
words ; and, that he may not be an obstacle to the stolen joys 
of thy guest, he is absent. He had no time more opportune 
to visit the Cretan realms ; husband of wondrous sagacity ! 
He went, and when about to go, he said, " My wife, I recom- 
mend thee to take care of myldfean guest in my place." Thou art 
neglecting (I aver it) the injunctions of thy absent husband : 
no care hast thou of thy guest. And canst thou hope, daughter 
of Tyndarus, that this man, without common discretion, can 
sufficiently appreciate the value of thy charms ? Thou art 
mistaken ; he is ignorant of them : and, if he thought the 
blessings he possesses of supreme value, he would not entrust 
them to a man and a stranger. Should neither my words, 
nor the ardour of my passion prevail on thee : we are persuaded 
to make use of the very opportunity 87 of thy husband's absence. 
Otherwise we should be foolish, so as to surpass even himself, 
if so safe an occasion should pass by unemployed. Almost 
with his own hands has he introduced a lover to thee ; make 
use then of the simplicity of thy thoughtless husband. 

Thou liest alone in thy forlorn chamber, during the night so 
long; I myself, too, am lying alone on my forlorn couch. Should 
joys shared in common unite thee to me, and me to thee; that 
night would be more shining than the mid-day. Then will I 

84 Is any influence.] — Ver. 291. What Ovid here supposes to be effi- 
cacious in the promotion and propagation of vice, is by another poet much 
more worthily put forth as the promoter of virtue ; 
' Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis.' 

b5 And of Leda.] — Ver. 292. Who, as her parents, were both guilty 
of adultery. 

66 Mayst thou then."\ — Ver. 293. He did not show himself to be much 
of a man of the world, in expecting this to be the case. 

h7 The very opportunity.] — Ver. 310. ' Ipsius commoditate' may mean, 
either ' his obligingness,' or ' the convenience of his absence.' Accord- 
ing to Dictys the Cretan, Menelaus had sailed to Crete to recover the 
property left by his maternal uncle, a son of Minos. 



EP. XVI.] PARIS TO IIELE5". 1 7$ 

swear to thee by any Divinities whatever ; and by thy 
own words Ss will I bind myself to thy hallowed ties ; then, if 
my confidence in myself is not deceiving, I will prevail, by 
my presence, that thou shalt repair to my realms. Jf thou art 
ashamed, and art afraid lest thou shouldst seem to have followed 
me ; I myself, without thee, will take the blame of this crime. 
For I will imitate the actions of the son of iEgeus, and of thy 
brothers ; thou canst not be influenced by a nearer example. 
Theseus carried thee off ; they, the twin daughters of Leucip- 
pus ; 89 the fourth among these instances shall I be reckoned. 80 
The Trojan fleet is at hand, well provided with arms and 
men ; soon shall oars and the breezes procure a speedy passage. 
As a mighty queen shalt thou go through the Bardanian cities : 
and the populace shall think that thou art come as a new 
Goddess : 91 wherever, too, thou shalt turn thy steps, the flames 
shall burn cinnamon, and the slain victim shall beat the 
llood-stained ground. My father and brothers, and, with my 
mother my sisters, and all the matrons of Ilium, and the 
whole of Troy, shall present gifts. Ah me ! hardly is any 
portion of the future told of by me ; more shalt thou meet 
with than what my letter mentions. And do not thou, when 
carried off, be in dread lest ruthless warfare should ensue, 
and lest mighty Greece should summon her resources : so 
many carried off before, tell me which 92 one was regained 

8S Thy own ivords.] — Ver. 320. ' Verbis tuis' signifies, 'in words, the 
form of which is prescribed by yourself.' 

89 Of Leucippus.] — Ver. 327. Castor and Pollux are said to have 
carried off by force Phcebe and Elai'ra, the daughters of Leucippus, who 
had been betrothed to their cousins, Idas and Lynceus, the sons of 
Aphareus. Their story is related in the Fifth Book of the Fasti, 1. 693, 
et seq. 

90 / he reckoned.'] — Ver. 328. As the fourth individual ; the three pre- 
vious ravishers having been Theseus, Castor and Pollux. 

91 A new Goddess.] — Ver. 332. It absolutely was the custom of some 
of the vain females of high station, to assume the title of a new-made 
Goddess. Cleopatra was called, on her coins, ' the new-made Goddess,' 
and, according to Plutarch, ' the new Isis.' 

92 Tell me which.] — Ver. 341. Paris is not satisfied with showing to 
Helen the possibility of their escaping together safely into Phrygia: he 
wishes also to remove all apprehensions of his being forced to restore her 
to her hushand. He foresees that she may possibly be in fear lest Mene- 
laiis should enlist all Greece in his cause, and demand her back at the 
head of a powerful army. To quiet her apprehensions, he assures her 
that all history affords no instance of the kind, and he then proceeds to 



1/6 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XVI. 

by arms ? Believe me, that matter produces groundless ap- 
prehensions. 

The Thracians, under the name of the North wind, 93 bore off 
the daughter of Erectheus ; and the Bistonian regions 94 were 
secure from war. The Pagassean 95 Jason carried off the Pha- 
sian damsel in his stranger ship ; and yet the Thessalian land 
was not injured by the Colchian hand. Theseus, too, who 
carried thee away, carried off the daughter of Minos ; and 
still Minos summoned no Cretans to arms. The alarm on 
these occasions is wont to be greater than the danger itself ; and 
she who is pleased to fear, is ashamed that she has been 
alarmed. Suppose, however, if thou dost choose, that a great 
war should arise ; I, too, have strength ; and my weapons inflict 
wounds. Not less are the resources of Asia, than those of 
thy country ; it is powerful in men, and, in its opulence, 
it abounds in horses. Menelaiis, too, the son of Atreus, will 
not possess more courage than Paris, nor will he be to be 
preferred in arms. When almost a boy, slaying the enemy, I 
regained my flocks carried off: and thence did I derive 
the occasion of 95 my name. When almost a boy, I surpassed 
the youths in the varied contest ; 97 among w r hom were Ilio- 

enumerate several who have been safely borne away in the manner in which 
he proposes to carry her off. 

93 The North wind.] — Ver. 343. Boreas, the North wind, was said to 
have carried off Orithyia, the daughter of Erectheus, king of Athens. Ovid 
here attributes the deed to the Thracians, who speciously assumed the 
name of Boreas. The story is related at the close of the Sixth Book of 
the Metamorphoses. 

94 Bistonian regions.'] — Ver. 344. Thrace is said to have been so 
called, either from the Bistonian lake there situate, or from Biston, the 
son of Mars and Calirrhoe, who was said to have built the city of Bis- 
tonia, upon the coast of Thrace, and to have given his name both to the 
lake and the country. 

95 The. Pagascean.] — Ver. 345. Jason is called ' Pagasaeus' from the 
city of Pagasse, in Thessaly, near which the ship Argo was built. From 
this place, the neighbouring bay, whence Jason set sail, was called 
' Sinus Pagasaeus.' 

90 The occasion of.~\ — Ver. 358. According to Apollodorus, Book iii. 
ch. 12, Paris received the name of Alexander, 'AXe^avdpoc, from the Greek 
verb cr'Afglw, which signifies ' to help,' by reason of the aid which his 
strength gave to the shepherds of Ida. 

97 Varied contest.'] — Ver. 359. The 'varium certamen' here men- 
tioned, is thought by some to refer to the ' pentathlon.' If so, Ovid is 



EP. XVI.] PAEIS TO HELEF. 1/7 

neus 9S and Deipliobus." And do not suppose that I am not 
to be dreaded but in close combat ; my arrows are fixed in 
the required spot. 

And canst thou ascribe to him these deeds of early youth ? 
Canst thou furnish the son of Atreus with my skill ? If thou 
shouldst give him everything, couldst thou give him Hector 
for a brother? He, singly, is as good as soldiers innumerable. 
Thou knowest not 1 what is my power, and my strength is 
concealed from thee ; thou art not aware what kind of man 
thou art about to marry. Either, then, thou wilt be demanded 
back in no tumult of warfare, or the Doric camp will yield 
to my forces. Nor yet should I think it unbecoming to take 
up arms for a wife so great ; great prizes provoke the contest. 
Thou too, if the whole world should contend for thee, wilt 
acquire a fame from everlasting posterity. Only, with no 
wavering hopes, going hence with the Gods propitious, de- 
mand with full assurance the return that I have promised 
thee. 

here guilty of an anachronism, as the pentathlon was not practised until 
the time when the great national games of Greece began to nourish. It 
consisted of five kinds of games, leaping, the foot-race, the throwing of 
the discus, the throwing of the spear, and wrestling ; all of which ex- 
ercises were performed in one day, and in a certain order, by the same 
athletes. The pentathlon was introduced in the Olympic games in the 
Eighteenth Olympiad. The leaping was accompanied by the music of flutes. 
It required and developed very great elasticity of all parts of the body, 
for which reason it was principally performed by young men. 

9S Ilioneus.'] — Ver. 360. Ilioneus, the son of the opulent Phorbas, is 
here referred to, who was killed in the Trojan war. There was another 
Ilioneus, who accompanied iEneas, and was famous both for his eloquence 
and his valour. 

99 Deipliobus.^ — Ver. 360. Deiphobus married Helen after the death 
of Paris, and was betrayed by her to Menelaus. 

1 Thou knotvest not.~] — Ver. 367. Paris omits nothing that may tend 
in any manner to quiet Helen's doubts or remove her scruples. After 
showing, by a variety of examples, that there is little probability of any 
attempt to recover her, he tells her, that even should this happen, he has 
strength and power to defend her ; and that such an accident, far from 
bringing any infamy upon herself, will tend highly to her glory. 



178 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEKOINES. [EP. XYII. 

EPISTLE XVII. 

HELEN TO PARIS. 

Helen, after reading the Epistle sent by Paris, as if offended by his pre- 
sumption, commences by reprimanding him, and then, with an assumed 
modesty, seems to reject his proposals, as contrary to virtue and honour ; 
but in such a manner, that she may not be thought entirely insensible to 
his passion. By degrees she opens her mind more plainly, and at length 
discloses her inclination to be favourable to him. The whole Epistle 
is a skilful specimen of the arts of female inconstancy, and pourtrays 
their seeming reluctance to comply, even when it is their most earnest 
desire, in the strongest light. The same foible of the sex is admirably 
depicted by the Poet in the Art of Love, Book i. 1. 483. 

' Forsitan et primo veniet tibi litera tristis, 
Quseque roget ne se solicitare velis. 
Quod rogat ilia, timet ; quod non rogat optat, ut instes.' 

' Perhaps, even at first, a discouraging letter will come to you : and 
one that entreats you will not molest her. What she entreats you to do, 
she dreads : what she does not entreat you to do, namely, to persist, 
she wishes you to do.' Helen concludes by requesting him to corre- 
spond with her, not by letter, but through Glymene and ^Ethra, her 
confidants. 

It is conjectured by some Commentators that this Epistle was not 
written by Ovid, but by Sabinus, who has written the answers to some 
others of his Epistles. But it bears such evident marks of the skill of 
Ovid, and is so complete a model of poetic feeling, that it is extremely 
improbable that any other person was the author. 

Ie, Paris, 2 it had not been allowed me to read what I have read, I 
should, as before, have observed the duties of a virtuous woman. 
When thy Epistle just now shocked my chaste eyes, not small 
did the glory 3 of writing thee an answer appear . Hast thou dared, 

2 Jf, Paris.] — The first two lines are — 

' Si mihi quse legi, Pari, non legisse liceret, 
Servarem numeros, sicut et ante, probae.' 

But they are wanting in most of the MSS., and are generally considered 
to be spurious. The peculiar signification of the word ' numeros ' de- 
serves attention. In the Consolation to Livia Augusta, it has the same 
signification, ' Numeros principis implere,' ' to fulfil the obligations of a 
ruler.' In the Palatine MS. this Epistle is attributed to the poet 
Sabinus. 

3 Did the glory.'] — Ver. 2. Some Commentators have observed that 
this line is capable of a double sense, according as we refer the particle 
' non ' to ' rescribendi,' or ' levis.' The latter, as being more plain and 



EP. XVII.] HELEN TO PABIS. ] 79 

a stranger, violating the rites of hospitality, 4 to tempt the due 
allegiance of a wife ? And has, forsooth, for this, the Tsena- 
rian shore received thee in her harbours, carried over the 
boisterous seas ? Our palace, too, did not have its doors 
closed against thee, 5 although thou didst come from a foreign 
nation ; 6 and was it that injury might be the reward of kind- 
ness so great ? Wast thou a guest or an enemy, 7 who thus 
didst make thy entrance ? 

And I doubt not, but that, in thy judgment, this complaint 
of mine, though it is so called for, will be styled the result of 
coyness. Coy, indeed, let me be, so long as i" am not forget- 
ful of modesty ; and so long as the course of my life is with- 
out a blemish. 8 If I have not 9 a countenance sad with dis- 

expressive, seems to be the right construction. However, ' the glory of 
writing in answer seemed not small,' and ' the glory of not writing in answer 
seemed small,' amount to nearly the same thing. Helen would here make 
her very writing to him appear not so much the effect of inclination and 
compliance, as of a just indignation and resentment at his presumption. 

4 Of hospitality .~\ — Ver. 3. The rites of hospitality were deemed so 
sacred among the ancients, that the violation of them was considered to be 
branded with the most heinous criminality. For this reason, the poets, 
when they wish to give an idea of an utterly abandoned character, never 
fail to represent a violation of hospitality as one of its distinguishing 
features. 

5 Against thee.'} — Ver. 7. From Thucydides we learn, that the Spar- 
tans had a law which forbade strangers to be admitted within their city. 

6 Foreign nation.] — Ver. 7. Meaning, ' a nation essentially differing from 
ours in its laws and customs.' Before the reader can fully enter into the 
meaning of this verse, he must remember that all foreign people were 
looked down upon by the Greeks as barbarians, and that the Spartans in 
particular had an extreme aversion to strangers. Paris was therefore 
bound by a double tie of gratitude to Menelaus, who, among a people of 
such a disposition, had afforded him a reception so remarkable for its ex- 
treme hospitality. 

7 An enemy.'] — Ver. 10. In the conjunction of ' hospes an hostis,' 
we see another instance of the fondness of the Poet for alliteration and 
attempts at punning. 

8 Without a blemish.] — Ver. 14. Her reasoning here is strong and 
just, and only makes us regret, that before the end of her letter, she de- 
generates into such base compliances. Mankind err more frequently from 
want of courage to withstand the passions, than from want of knowing 
better. 

9 I have not.] — Ver. 15. Helen seems to wonder whence he can 
have possibly formed a notion so much to her disadvantage, as to believe 
that he may hope for success in his attempts on her virtue. Her 
smiling looks, her easv and frank behaviour, she thinks most likely to 

N 2 



180 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XVIT. 

sembling looks, and do not sit frowning with contracted 
eyebrows ; still is my fame unspotted, and hitherto without a 
fault have I lived, and through me no paramour receives any 
glory. The more, therefore, am I astonished at the boldness of 
thy enterprise ; and wonder what cause gave thee hopes of my 
favours. Is it, because 10 the hero, descendant of Neptune, 11 
offered violence to me, once ravished, that I seem deserving a 
second time, too, to be ravished 1 The crime would have been 
my own, if I had been enticed away : bat as I was carried 
away, what part was mine but to be reluctant ? 

Still, from his deed he did not reap the desired reward ; 
fear excepted, I returned, having suffered nothing. He only, 
in his forwardness, snatched a few kisses as I struggled ; 
nothing further did he obtain of me. Such is thy wanton- 
ness, it had not been satisfied with these. The Gods were 
more favourable ; he was not like to thee. He restored me 
unhurt, 12 and his respectful conduct diminished his crime ; 
and it is evident that the youth repented of his deed. Theseus 
repented, that Paris might succeed him ; and shall my name 
at no time cease to be upon busy tongues ? 

And yet I am not displeased ; 13 (for who can be displeased 

have raised this presumption. She therefore ohserves that as her fame 
has hitherto been spotless, this ought to have given him no encouragement, 
and she seems to imply that those who affect a rigid severity, are sooner 
won than the free and open. 

10 Is it because.'} — Ver. 21. She here touches upon another ground 
upon which Paris may possibly have based his hopes. ' I have been carried 
away before, and perhaps you may think partly by my own consent.' To 
this she pleads her innocence, and says that when force was used, all 
she could do was to offer resistance, and that in this she succeeded so 
well that nothing ensued to her dishonour. 

11 Descendant of Neptune.'] — Ver. 21. Neptune was the grandfather 
of Theseus. 

12 Restored me unhurt.] — Ver. 31. It was only natural that she should 
give this account, which has, however, in general, been credited. Pau- 
sanias, however, and Antoninus Liberalis say that there were reports that 
Iphigenia was the daughter of Helen, by Theseus. 

13 Not displeased.] — Ver. 35. We now discover, that hitherto all 
Helen's protestations have been merely to save appearances, and the 
result of an affected modesty. She now begins to discover her real 
sentiments, but with considerable artifice, for she repeatedly launches 
forth in commendation of chastity and insinuates her own resolution not 
to offend against its rules. This she does, with the view of making it 



EP. XVII. I HELEN TO PAEISi 181 

at a lover?) if only the affection which thou dost profess is 
not pretended. For about that, too, I am in doubt ; not that u 
trust in thee is wanting, or that my own charms are not well 
known to myself; but because too easy faith is wont to be 
injurious to the fair, and the words of you men are said to be 
void of truth. But other women sin ; and suppose that 
few matrons are chaste. What forbids that my name should 
be among those few ? But inasmuch as my mother seemed a 
fitting subject to thee, by whose example thou dost suppose that 
I too can be influenced ; deceit was the cause of my mother's 
fault, who was beguiled under a false form ; beneath fea- 
thers 15 was the adulterer concealed. Were I to sin, 16 of no- 
thing could I be ignorant, and there would be no mistake to 
veil the criminality of the act. With reason did she do 
wrong, and she atoned for her fault by the perpetrator ; 
with what Jove 17 shall I, in my faultiness, be said to be 
blessed ? Whereas thou dost boast of thy race, and thy ances- 
tors, and thy royal names ; this house is sufficiently ennobled 
by its ancestry. 

Should Jupiter not be named 18 as the great grandsire of 

appear that her concessions are purely the result of accident, and have 
slipped from her quite unperceived. 

14 Not that. .] — Ver. 37. Some editions have 'non quo,' but 'non 
quod' seems preferable. 

15 Feathers.~\ — Ver. 46. She pleads that her mother was imposed upon, 
and that the bird, which was Jupiter in disguise, she thought to be really 
a swan. 

16 Were I to sin.'] — Ver. 47. We here form a notion of the ground 
on which Helen speaks so resolutely of her determination in favour of 
chastity. It is more the fear of reproach and infamy, than any detest- 
ation of vice, that keeps her from giving way to her passion ; and ac- 
cordingly we find in the end, that this restraint is too feeble to retain 
her in her duty. True virtue is of a very different nature, and derives 
its value from itself, without any regard to the opinions of others. 
Horace justly says, ' Oderunt peccare boni virtutis amore,' • The good 
hate to sin, from their love of virtue.' To the truly virtuous, despair 
of escaping undiscovered operates as no motive ; they justly place their 
happiness in self-approbation, and dread the reproaches of their own con- 
science much more than those of the world. 

17 With what Jove.] — Ver. 50. She says that her mother was so far 
fortunate, that she could plead that it was through the agency of a 
Divinity that she sinned ; whereas, if she should listen to his overtures, she 
would be able to have no such plea in her own favour. 

18 Not be named.'] — Ver. 53. Jupiter was the father of Tantalus, by 
the Nymph Pluto or Plota, and was consequently the great-grandfather of 



182 THE EPI3TLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XVIT. . 

my father-in-law, and all the honourable line of Pelops, the 
son of Tantalus, and of Tyndarus ; Leda, deceived by the 
swan, gives me Jove as my parent ; she who, unsuspecting, 
cherished the fictitious bird in her bosom. Go then, and re- 
late at length the first commencement of thy Phrygian des- 
cent ; and make mention of Priam with his Laomedon ; them 
do I reverence ; but he who, as thy fifth ancestor, is thy great 
glory, the same is the first 19 from my own 20 name. Although 
I should believe the sceptre of thy Troy to be powerful, still 
I do not fancy that this is less so than it. If now, 21 this place 
is surpassed in riches, and in number of people ; still, thy 
country is at least a barbarian one. Thy bountiful Epistle 
promises, indeed, gifts so great, that it might be enabled to 
influence the Goddesses themselves ; but if now, I should be 
inclined to transgress the limits of chastity, thou wouldst be a 
preferable cause for my faultiness. 

Either I will for ever keep my honour without a stain, or 
I will follow thyself rather than thy presents. And not that 
I despise them ; for those gifts are always the most accept- 

Atreus or Plisthenes, who were brothers, and either of whom may here he 
deemed the father-in-law of Helen. 

w Is the first, .] — Ver. 60. As already stated, the genealogy of Paris, 
generally given by the ancients, is the following — Priam, Laomedon, Ilus, 
Tros, Ericthonius, Dardanus, Jupiter. According to this account, Paris 
is the seventh from Jupiter, whereas Helen here makes him only the 
fifth. "We must therefore conclude either that the text is corrupt, or that 
the genealogy here referred to hy Ovid differs from that which is usually 
adopted. Perhaps he makes Helen designedly fall into this error, as she 
may be supposed not to have been very conversant on these points. V/e 
meet with several examples of the kind in this Poet. 

20 p rom m y own.'] — Ver. 60. As Helen was the daughter of Jupiter, 
it is with some reason that she boasts of her own pedigree as being more 
illustrious than that of Paris. 

21 If now.] — Ver. 63. Helen allows that Asia is more wealthy and 
better stocked with inhabitants ; but then, as it is a country of bar- 
barians, it can prove no temptation to her to abandon Sparta. This 
passage deserves to be particularly remarked. Paris, in his Epistle to 
Helen, endeavours to prevail on her by great promises, while boasting of 
his illustrious descent and the wealth and opulence of Phrygia. Helen is 
equally eager to convince him that none of these things can be of any 
weight with her. All this is done, however, only with the object of ingra- 
tiating herself the more with him, by insinuating that to her he himself 
is the only temptation, and that no other passion but what he himself has 
inspired can possibly make her swerve from the paths of virtue. 



EP. XYII.] HELEN TO PARIS. 183 

able, -which the giver makes to be of worth. Much more 22 is 
it that thou dost love me ; that I am the cause of thy care ; 
that thy hopes range over the waves so distant. The things 
too, which, shocking man, thou art in the habit of doing when 
the table is placed, I observe, although I try to conceal it. 
When, for instance, wanton man, thou art eying me sometimes 
with languishing looks, which, as they solicit me, my eyes can 
hardly endure; and sometimes thou dost sigh, sometimes 
thou dost take the cup next after me, and from the side on 
which I have drunk, thou dost drink as well. 0, how often 23 
with thy fingers, how often with thy brow, that almost gave 
utterance, have I observed the secret signs given ! And often 
have I dreaded lest my husband should observe them ; and 
have blushed at the hints 24 not sufficiently concealed. Often 
did I say, with murmurs either faint or prolonged, 25 " This 

22 Muchmore.] — Ver. 72. She still continues the same artifice to gain. 
upon Paiis. She has, before, seemingly slighted his gifts ; now, she re- 
tracts, and speaks of them as having been very acceptable to her, but at 
the same time she is careful to intimate that they have derived their value 
entirely from the giver. This being deemed a sure sign that love has 
taken deep root, Paris has reason thence to form sanguine hopes of suc- 
cess. Terence, in the ' Eunuchus,' where he introduces the Parasite flat- 
tering his master that he is greatly in favour with Thai's, makes him offer 
as an evidence of it, the value she set upon his present : — 

« , Laeta est, non tarn ipso quidem dono, 

Quam abs te datum esse ; id vero serio triumphat.' 

*■ She is pleased, not so much with the present itself, as that it was given 
by you : it is that in reality that gives her the greatest pleasure.' 

23 How often.] — This and the following lines are evidently an imitation 
of two lines of Propertius, Book iii. Ode 7. 

' Tecta superciliis si quando verba remittis, 
Aut tua cum digitis scripta silenda notas.' 

' If at any time you utter language concealed in your eye-brows, or trace 
your silent letters with your fingers/ 

24 At the hints."] — Ver. 84. Helen does not censure Paris for these 
freedoms, signs and tokens of his affection ; she only blames him for not 
having taken care to dissemble better, lest he should excite the suspicions 
of Menelaiis. The whole of these circumstances are cleverly described, 
and with that luxuriance of imagination which distinguishes the Poet. 

25 Or prolonged.'] — Ver. 85. ' Longo' seems here a preferable reading 
to ' nullo;' ' a long-drawn sigh.' This reading is preferred by Ileinsius ; 
but Burmann prefers ' nullo,' as he says that she would avoid a long- 
drawn sigh, lest her husband might chance to hear it. 



184 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XTII. 

man has no shame ;" 2G and those words of mine were not un- 
true. On the round surface, 27 too, of the table, have I read 
beneath my name, that, which the letters, traced in wine, de- 
scribed — " I love thee." 26 Still, with a frowning eye, I de- 
nied that I believed this. Ah me ! now have I learned to be 
enabled so to speak 29 as well. 

With these allurements, if I had been likely to sin, I should 
have been won ; by these could my heart have been enthralled. 
Thou hast too, I confess, surpassing beauty ; and any damsel 
might desire to rush into thy embrace. Rather let some other 
woman be made happy without guilt, than that my chastity 
should fail through the love of a stranger. Learn by my 
example, 50 to be enabled to go without the beauteous ; there 

2G Has no shame."] — Ver. 86. 'Nil pudet hanc,' is translated by 
Davison, more expressively than elegantly, ' This man will stick at nothing.' 

27 The round surface.'] — Ver. 87. The tables of the ancients were of 
various shapes. The round table with three legs was very commonly 
used, especially among the lower classes. The Grecian tables are thought 
to have had four legs, from the origin of the word rpa-KiCa, the Greek 
name for a table. Maple-wood was much valued by the Romans, as the 
material for their tables ; the wood also of the ' citrus' of Africa, which is 
thought to have been a kind of cedar, was much for the same purpose. The 
legs were very tasteful, being sometimes made of ivory, in imitation of 
lions' feet. The ' monopodium,' or round table with one foot, resembling 
our loo tables, was introduced into Rome, from Asia Minor, by Cn. 
Manlius. Semicircular tables were also used at meals ; the meat was cut 
on them by the slaves in waiting, and was brought to the guests as they 
reclined. The Greeks did not use table-cloths, but had their tables cleansed 
with wet sponges called ' peniculi' by the Romans, or with fragrant herbs. 
The Romans used a thick cloth, called ' gausape,' for the purpose of 
table-cloths. The tables were considered sacred, and frequently had small 
statues of the Gods placed upon them, 

28 / love thee.] — Ver. 88. Love is ever fertile in expedients to 
attract the notice of the object beloved. The ingenuity of Paris, on 
these occasions, certainly would have deserved commendation in a better 
cause ; the notice taken of it by Helen, is a sure sign that it has not 
failed of its intended effect. 

29 So to speak.] — Ver. 90. The grammarian Hephsestion represents 
Helen as having been the discoverer of the art of talking with her fingers. 
Burmann enquires whether, having learned it of Paris, she may not have 
taught the art to others ? 

30 By my example^] — Ver. 97. Notwithstanding the insinuation of 
Helen, that her husband was no beauty, we must, if we are to believe 
Homer, give him the credit of having been a handsome man. Even Paris 
himself, in his Epistle to Helen, does not deny him that small merit ; he 



JEP, XVII.] HELEN TO ±»AiLIS. 185 

is a virtue 31 in abstaining from joys that delight us. How 
many youths dost thou suppose to long for that which thou 
dost long, who still are discreet ? Or dost thou, Paris, alone 
possess eyes ? Not more dost thou see than others ; but in 
thy rashness, thou art more daring; not more passion is in 
thee, but a greater confidence. 32 Then could I have wished that 
thou hadst come in thy swift bark, at the time when my 
virginity was sought by a thousand suitors. 33 Had I beheld 
thee, 31 the first of the thousand shouldst thou have been ; 
my husband, himself, will grant pardon to my choice. Thou 
earnest too late to joys that are gained and forestalled ; thy 
hopes were of late growth ; what thou dost seek, another 
possesses. 

Still, although I could have wished to become thy Trojan 
wife, yet Menelaiis 35 does not possess me thus against my in- 
only thinks that a comparison will not be to his own disadvantage. 
Helen, indeed, here plainly gives the preference to Paris, and even owns 
that she loves him, but that she is restrained by virtuous considerations 
from yielding to his desires. 

31 Is a virtue.] — Ver. 98. This, indeed, is a degree of virtue, to which 
very few are able to attain. It comprehends a perfect mastery over the 
passions, and a well informed judgment, able to distinguish between what 
is really profitable and what is hurtful ; for virtue does not absolutely 
forbid all pleasures and enjoyments, but only such as are injurious to 
others, or prejudicial to ourselves. Epictetus, one of the most consum- 
mate of moralists, was in the habit of saying that the perfection of virtue 
was comprised in those two words, ' endure' and ' abstain.' 

32 Greater confidence.] — Ver. 102. Exactly corresponding to our vul- 
gar phrase, i plus oris ' literally means, ' more face.' 

33 TJiousand suitors.'] — Ver. 104. The number of Helen's suitors was 
said to have been twenty-nine. Their names are given by Apollodorus in 
bis Third Book. Among them we find those of Ulysses, Diomedes, Ajax 
Telamon, Ajax Oileus, and Philoctetes. 

34 / beheld thee.] — Ver. 105. While she is seemingly endeavouring to 
convince Paris of the impossibility of his ever gaining his object, she 
goes on to give him all the proofs of her affection that he can possibly 
wish for, and thus artfully encourages his hopes that she may one day be 
brought to yield to his utmost wishes. ' Had you addressed me,' she says, 
' while I was yet under no engagement, and free to bestow my heart 
wherever my inclination led me, you would have succeeded in gaining the 
prize from my thousand suitors, and Menelaiis himself must have justified 
my choice.' 

35 Yet Menelaiis.] — Ver. 110. Helen still maintains her character of 
an admirable dissembler, and occasionally drops some expression which 
seems to bespeak a virtuous and well-regulated mind. If she is not able 



186 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XYII. 

clination. Cease, I entreat thee, to move with thy words my 
sensitive breast, and do not hurt me, whom thou sayest that 
thou dost love ; but suffer me to enjoy the lot which For- 
tune has assigned to me, and gain not the dishonourable spoil 
of my chastity. But Venus promised this reward, and in 
the vales of lofty Ida, three Goddesses 36 showed themselves 

\ naked to thee ; and whereas one offered a kingdom, another 
the glories of war, the third said, " Thou shalt be the husband 
of the daughter of Tyndarus." For my part, I can hardly 

/believe, that heavenly beings have submitted their beauty 
to thy judgment ; and though this were true, at least, the 
other part is a fiction, in which I am said to have been given 
as the reward of thy decision. I have not so great confidence ' i7 
in my own person, that I can suppose that I was the greatest 
reward, in the opinion of a Goddess. My charms are content 
to be approved of by the eyes of men ; for Venus to be my 
praiser, is a source of envy against me. But I deny nothing ; 
I even approve of those commendations ; for, why should 
my voice deny that to be which it wishes to be ? 

And do not 38 thou, too slowly believed by me, be dis- 

entirely to conquer her growing inclination for Paris, she still pretends 
to struggle against it, and to retain that regard for Menelaiis, which 
propriety and her nuptial vows demand. She therefore prays Paris not 
to urge her to what is so contrary to her honour and her duty, or to take 
advantage of the strong and seemingly irresistible inclination which she 
has for him. There is great artifice in this ; for she insinuates that it will 
not be in her power to hold out long against him, if he shall persist in 
his solicitations ; and from what passes in her own mind, she does not 
believe that her faint entreaties will prevail upon him to desist. 

36 Three Goddesses.'] — Ver. 116. He does not say in his Epistle that 
he saw the Goddesses naked. 

37 So great confidence.'] — Ver. 123. Helen here speaks of the pro- 
mise made by Venus to Paris, as a circumstance too much to her honour 
to be rashly credited. Indeed, her fancy is so full of the imaginary 
honour done her by the Goddess, in preferring her beauty to that of every 
other woman, that she does not consider how far it implies infidelity to 
her husband, and breach of her nuptial vow. 

38 And do not.]— Ver. 129. It is curious to trace Helen through all 
the changes of her feelings, and to observe how she gradually rises in her 
advances to her lover. She owns that she is pleased with the promise 
made to her by Venus, and wishes that it had been true. She even pro- 
ceeds so far as to shew an anxiety lest he should be offended with her 
hesitation to credit his narration ; and to soften the matter, she pretends 
that she has considered it an affair of too great moment to be rashly be- 



EP. XYII.] HELEK TO PAEIS. 187 

pleased ; slow belief is wont to be given to things of im- 
portance. 'Tis then, my chief delight to have been pleasing 
to Venus ; the next, that I was esteemed the greatest reward 
by thee ; that thou didst prefer neither the honours of Pallas 
nor of Juno to the charms of Helen, of winch thou hadst 
heard. Am I, then, 39 as good as valour to thee ? Am I as good 
as a noble kingdom to thee ? I were made of iron, if I did 
not esteem this affection. Of iron, believe me, I am not 
made ; but I decline to love that man who I hardly think can 
become my own. Why do I 40 strive to turn up the thirsty 
shore with the crooked plough, and to cherish a hope which 

lieved, because a disappointment would expose her to the most cruel 
mortification. 

33 Am I then.'] — Ver- 155. Her reasoning is admirably calculated to 
excuse her weakness, and to quiet the alarms which her own reflections 
would be apt to give her. She sets forth the merits of Paris, and what he 
has done for her, in the most engaging light, in order to make her com- 
pliance appear a point of gratitude. When the mind has once deter- 
mined on a thing, it is never at a loss to discover excuses and palliating 
reasons to avoid its own reproaches. What would appear shocking to it 
when well-disposed and untainted, will now be set off with such allure- 
ments, as will disarm it of all its terrors and guilt. This is exempli- 
fied in Helen in the most lively manner. How different now do her senti- 
ments appear from what they were at the beginning of the Epistle ? There 
she is full of resentment, accuses Paris of violating the sacred rites of 
hospitality, and wonders at his insolence in offering to make any attempt 
on her honour. How vastly is the case changed since then ! She now 
views everything that he has done with a different eye. His preferring 
her before valour and a kingdom, his exposing himself to the dangers of 
the sea for her sake, and his suffering all the anguish of a concealed love, 
are now placed to the account of merit. She no longer considers him as 
the enemy of her virtue and honour, and one who intends to rob her of what 
ought to be most valuable and most dear to her, and to expose her to 
eternal infamy ; but as a suffering lover, one more deserving of pity and 
compassion than of severity and repulse. By this she is led to think that 
gratitude and humanity require her to make some return, and she would, 
if possible, persuade herself, that her weakness, in not at once rejecting 
his addresses, has been rather a virtue than a crime. 

40 Why do I.~\ — Ver. 139. It is more, we see, from an apprehension 
of the impossibility of the thing, than from any abhorrence of the crime, 
that Helen shows such an extreme reluctance. She looks upon it as a 
vain project to indulge a passion for a stranger, and as likely to yield no 
more profit than ploughing up the sandy beach. Many obstacles may 
intervene to obstruct their happiness ; busy whispers, the suspicions of 
her husband, and the necessity of his speedy return to his own country ; 
all of which are represented by her with a happy vein of fancy. 



188 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEKOIKES. [EP. XYII. 

the spot itself denies me ? I am a stranger to the artifices of 
love, and by no artfulness (the Gods are my witnesses) have 
I deceived a confiding husband. And now that I commit 
my words to the silent paper, my writing performs an office 
entirely new. Happy they who have had experience ! I, 
unacquainted with the world, imagine the way to culpability 
to be a rugged one. 41 This fear is an evil. Even now am I 
confused, and I imagine all eyes to be fixed on my features. 

Nor do I imagine this without reason ; I have heard the 
evil stories among the multitude ; and iEthra reported to me 
some observations. But do thou dissemble, unless thou 
hadst rather desist. But why shouldst thou desist? thou 
canst dissemble. Continue thy sport, 42 but secretly ; a greater, 
but not an absolute, freedom is granted me, because Menelaiis 
is absent. He, indeed, has gone to a distance, business com- 
pelling him to do so ; the cause of his sudden departure 
was urgent 43 and reasonable. Or else so it seemed to me ; 

41 A rugged one.'] — Ver. 146. The Poet's sentiments are just, and are 
depicted in accordance with truth and nature. Those who have been 
tramed up to the practice of virtue, are much shocked at the first advances 
to vice. They feel a reluctance which disquiets them and makes them 
feel unhappy, and are apt to fancy that everything betrays them. Helen 
very naturally describes this to be the case with herself. Although no 
undue familiarities have actually passed between herself and Paris, yet, 
being conscious of what is likely to happen, she already imagines that it 
has been discovered. Guilt makes her quick-sighted in observing every 
nod and whisper ; looks and gestures, that at another time would have 
passed unobserved, are now construed to have a meaning. 

42 Continue thy sport.] — Ver. 153. She is now disposed openly to 
sanction his passion, and to allow him whatever liberties he can find the 
opportunity of taking, consistently with prudence. Paris, in his Epistle, 
has told her, that Menelaiis, by his own behaviour, has urged her to a 
compliance with his own wishes, as his absence has afforded her the best 
possible opportunity of indulging in an amorous correspondence. She 
allows it, but at the same time she thinks that they ought to act with 
great circumspection, because, notwithstanding her husband's absence* 
there are still spies upon her conduct, who will not fail to aggravate each 
possible circumstance. What is this but to tell him that she will with- 
hold none of her favours from him, when a fair opportunity shall be 
offered of granting them without danger of a discovery ? 

43 Was urgent.] — Ver. 156. As we have before observed, according 
to some, he had gone to claim the property of his uncle Crethaeus ; while 
others say, that he went to Crete to take his share of the property of Atreus, 
which was there divided. John of Antioch, in a fragment, says, that he 
had gone to Crete to perform certain sacred rites. 



EP. XVII.] HELEtf TO PARIS. 189 

when he was hesitating whether he should go, I said to him, 
" Take care, and do come hack as soon as possible." Over- 
joyed at 44 the omen, he gave me kisses, and said, " Let my 
property and my palace and my Trojan guest be objects 
of thy care." Hardly did I 45 refrain from laughter; and 
while I struggled to restrain it, I could say nothing to him in 
answer, except " It shall be so." 

He, indeed, with favouring winds, set sail for Crete, but do 
not thou, for that reason, suppose that every thing is per- 
mitted thee. My husband is in such manner absent from 
this place, that in his absence he watches me. Dost thou not 
know that Kings have long hands ? 46 My fame, too, is an 
obstacle, for the more constantly I am praised by thy lips, 
with the greater justice does he fear. The same celebrity 
which, as it now is, is to my advantage, is an injury to 
me ; 47 and better would it have been to have deceived 
report. And do not, 48 because he is absent, be surprised 

44 Overjoyed at.'] — Ver. 159. At the omen of her parting words being 
so affectionate ; by which, too, he was disarmed of all suspicion. 

45 Hardly did I.] — Ver. 161. We cannot help feeling shocked both at 
the deceit of the woman, and her impudent manner of confessing it. 
The concessions she has hitherto made, have been made with some air 
of modesty and reserve, and she would rather have them ascribed to 
pity and tenderness, than to any loose inclination. Here, however, she 
seems to own that even before her husband's departure, she had not only 
entertained favourable impressions of Paris, but had determined to yield 
herself up to him without reserve, and had gone so far as to ridicule 
Menelaiis, and despise him for his easy credulity. Her smiling, on Mene- 
laiis committing the Trojan guest to her care, might also proceed from her 
own consciousness, that she was more than fully disposed to obey his 
commands, and a certain pleasure she might take in perceiving that he 
had no suspicion of her criminal intentions. 

43 Have long 7iands.] — Ver. 166. This was a Greek proverb : it is 
quoted by Heredotus, and noticed by other writers. 

47 Injury to me.'] — Ver. 169. Some of the Commentators give a con- 
fused and unsatisfactory version of this passage. Helen says that the 
reputation for beauty which, on many accounts, could not be disagreable 
to her, was in this case rather a disadvantage, because it made her con- 
spicuous, and the object of general notice. This has obliged her to ex- 
ercise a strict attention to her actions, and even to her looks and words, it 
being almost impossible that the least slip should pass unobserved. She 
fears, therefore, that her present sentiments for Paris cannot long be a 
secret, and wishes that her fame had been less, rather than she should 
be thus exposed to the hazard of a discovery. 

48 And do not.] — Ver. 171. Perhaps this passage may shew that we 



190 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XYII. 

that I am left here with thee ; he trusted my virtue 49 
and my unspotted life. For my beauty he felt apprehen- 
sions ; in my morals he put trust ; and my prudence makes 
him at ease, while my beauty makes him fear. Thou advisest 
that the opportunity should not be lost, so willingly presented, 
and that we should enjoy the convenient absence of my unsus- 
pecting husband. I am willing, and yet I fear ; my resolution, 
too, is not sufficiently fixed 5 my feelings hesitate in sus- 
pense. 50 

Both my husband is absent 51 from me, and thou dost sleep 
without a partner; thy beauty, too, pleases me, and mine 
thee, each in our turn. The nights, too, are long, and now 
we join in conversation ; and thou (ah wretched me I) art 
pressing, and one house receives us both. And may I die if 
every thing does not tempt to criminality ; but yet I myself 
am held back by a fear I know not what. I wish that 52 thou 

ought not to interpret Helen's smiling at her husband's recommending 
the Trojan guest to her care, as shewing her contempt for his easy temper 
and simplicity. She seems here to be so far from viewing it in that light, 
that, on the contrary, she thinks that he had all the reason in the world to 
trust her ; for that, however much her beauty and fame might expose her 
to solicitations, her known virtue was sufficient to secure him against all 
suspicions of her ever proving unfaithful to him. 

49 My virtue."] — Ver. 172. Helen, as she more than once tells us, has 
hitherto lived without reproach ; Menelaiis, therefore, cannot be charged 
with imprudence in leaving her in the company of this stranger, whom 
doubtless he thought well of, and in whose honour and integrity he re- 
posed an undeserved confidence. 

50 In suspense.] — Ver. 178. Heinsius thinks that the true reading 
here, instead of ' in dubio,' is ' in bivio,'' ' my mind is distracted in oppo- 
site directions.' He also suggests that this expression alludes to the two 
paths of virtue and vice, as mentioned in the ' Vision of Hercules ' by Pro- 
dicus, and other Pythagorean philosophers. Burmann, however, thinks 
that ' in dubio' is the proper reading. 

51 Is absent.] — Ver. 179. This detail of the combination of circum- 
stances is very happily put together by the Poet. She collects all the 
grounds that invite her to a compliance, with a minuteness and strength 
of fancy, that show distinctly how often her thoughts have been employed 
upon the subject, and that now, her only concern is, how to attain the 
gratification of her desires, without ruining her reputation with the world 
for shocking the delicacy of her admirer. 

53 I wish that.] — Ver. 185. She now entirely throws off the mask, and 
avows her willingness, if proper care is taken to afford her some excuse 
for her weakness ; for she does not wish the victory to appear to have been 
too easily gained. 



EP. XVII.] HELEN TO PAEIS. 101 

couldst opportunely use force, for that to which thou dost 
persuade me to my disgrace ! My coyness might have been 
overcome by violence. Wrongs are 53 sometimes advantageous 
to those who have suffered them. Thus, at least, could I have 
wished to be forced to be happy. While it is still young, let 
us rather 54 struggle with the growing passion ; the kindling 
name is quenched, when sprinkled with a little water. In 
strangers there is no lasting love ; it wanders just as them- 
selves ; and while you are hoping that nothing cau be more 
lasting, it is gone. 55 

Hypsipyle is a witness, the virgin daughter of Minos is a 
witness ; each was deceived in a fidelity that was not re- 
turned. Thou, too, faithless man, art said to have deserted thy 
(Enone, beloved for many a year. Nor yet must thou 
deny it ; it has been, if thou knowest it not, my greatest 
care to make all enquiries about thee. Besides, even shouldst 
thou wish to remain constant in thy affection, thou canst 
not ; already the Phrygians are preparing thy sails. While 
thou art conversing with me, while the wished-for night is 
being appointed, just then wilt thou have a wind to waft 
thee to thy native land. In the midst of thy career thou 
wilt leave delights that are full of novelty ; together with the 
winds will thy love depart. Or shall I accompany thee as thou 
dost persuade ? And shall I visit Pergamus so be-praised, and 
shall I become the wife of the grandson of great Laomedon ? 

I do not 56 so despise the reports of winged Fame, that it 

53 Wrongs are.~\ — Ver. 187. Because it is by the seeming injury that 
they excuse their fault. Ovid has cleverly used all his ingenuity in this 
Epistle ; indeed, in none of his writings does he so minutely enter into 
the reasonings of the female mind. 

54 Let us rather.'] — Ver. 189. This is a strong picture of her inconstancy, 
and of the irresolution of her wavering mind. By this sudden change, 
she not only assumes the semblance of modesty and reluctance, but at the 
same time tends to inflame her lover and to raise his ardour to a greater 
height. 

55 It is gone.'] — Ver. 192. 'Fuit.' Literally, « it was.' So • Troja fuit,' 
' Troy was,' meaning ' Troy is no more.' 

56 I do not.] — Ver. 207. We have here a long detail of the reasons 
that prevent her from following Paris to Troy. None of them, however, 
are drawn from the amiableness of virtue, or from the baseness of the 
crime itself. With her these considerations have no weight; she is only 
concerned for her reputation, and she particularly wishes to avoid infamy. 
She foresees too, and with good reason, that such a step may bring her 



192 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. 1TIT. 

should fill the earth with reproaches of me. What shall 
Sparta say of me? What the whole of Achaia, what the 
nations of Asia, what thy own Troy? What will Priam 
think of me, what will the wife of Priam think ? Thy bro- 
thers, too, so many in number, and the Dardanian matrons ? 
And even thou, how wilt thou be able to hope that I shall be 
faithful to thee, and not be anxious by reason of thine 
own example ? Every stranger that shall enter the harbours 
of Ilium, the same will be a cause for anxious apprehension to 
thee. Enraged at me thyself, how often wilt thou say, "Thou 
adultress P' 57 forgetting that thy crime was embraced in my 
own. Thou, the same person, wilt become the reprover and 
the cause of my guilt. May the earth, I pray, first over- 
whelm my features. But I shall enjoy the Ilian wealth and 
rich garments ; and I shall receive gifts more abundant than 
thy promises. Garments of purple, and costly, in fact, shall 
be given to me ; and I shall be rich in heaped-up masses of 
gold. 

Grant pardon to me confessing it ; thy gifts are not of so 
much value ; this land has charms for me, I know not to what 
extent. Should I be insulted, who shall help me on the 
Phrygian shores? Whence shall I seek the aid of a bro- 
ther, 58 whence that of a parent ? The deceitful Jason pro- 
mised every thing to Medea ; was she 59 any the less expelled 
from the house of iEson ? There was no iEetes to whom, 

into contempt, even with the person in favour of whom it is taken. 
' What security,' she says to Paris, ' can you afterwards have for my 
fidelity ? Will not my easy consent to your proposal make you suspect 
me with every stranger that lands upon your coast ?' This reasoning is 
unanswerable, inasmuch as no union is at all likely to be lasting, that is 
not founded upon virtue. 

57 Thou adultress /] — Ver. 217. This reminds us of the Latin proverb, 
' Clodius accusat maechos.' ' Clodius accuses the adulterers.' The 
negroes are very much in the habit of calling each other ' black rascals.' 

53 Aid of a brother.] — Ver. 228. She had at this time only one brother 
surviving, inasmuch as Castor had been slain by Lyncaeus. 

59 Was she.'] — Ver. 230. Paris had made large promises to Helen : 
but these are usual in soliciting favours of this kind, and, though given 
with the greatest air of sincerity, are apt to be but little regarded after- 
wards. She therefore tells him that his promises have given her but little 
security, since it has appeared, from numerous instances, that those who 
trust to them are in the end deceived. She instances Medea in particular, 
and insinuates her fears of a like fate for herself. 



EP. XYTI.] HELES TO PAEIS. 193 

when despised, she might return ; no mother Ipsea, 60 no sister 
Chalciope. I apprehend no such thing; 61 but neither did 
Medea apprehend ; fair expectations are often deceived in their 
own surmises. 6 - For all the ships, which are now being tossed 
upon the deep, thou wilt find that the sea was calm when sailing 
out of- harbour. The torch, too, 63 terrifies me; which, stained 
with blood, thy mother thought, before the day of her labour, 
she was bearing. I fear, too, the presages of the prophets, 
which, they say, forewarns us that Ilion shall be burnt by 
Pelasgian flames. And as Cytherea favours thee, because she 
has triumphed, and has by thy decision gained a two-fold 
trophy, 64 so do I fear the others, which two, if thy praises 
are not assumed, lost their cause on thy arbitration. 

And I have no doubt but that, if I should accompany thee, 
arms will be resorted to ; our love, ah me ! will have through 
swords to make its way. Did Atracian Hippodamia 65 compel 

60 No mother Ipsea.] — Ver. 232. It is generally supposed that the 
word 'Ipsea' is a corrupt reading for Idyi'a; as the latter is usually the 
name given to the mother of Medea, and the former occurs in no other 
iustance. Diodorus Siculus, however, says that Medea and Chalciope 
were the daughters of iEetes, by Hecate, the daughter of his brother. 
Apollonius Rhodius says that Absyrtus was the son of vEetes, not by his 
wife, but by his concubine Asterodsea. Sophocles calls the mother of 
Medea, Eurylyte. 

61 No such thing.] — Ver. 233. This reflection is just and well-timed. 
She would not appear to suspect her lover's honour and fidelity, and 
therefore is willing to trust him ; but she immediately recollects that the 
same was the case with Medea. She had. no distrust of Jason, but con- 
fided in his promises, and the event testified how far she had been in 
error. She concludes, then, that she may possibly have some reason to 
fear a similar fate. 

62 Surmises.'] — Ver. 234. She here refers to the lot of Medea, on being 
abandoned by Jason. According to some accounts, iEetes had been pre- 
viously slain in a skirmish with the Ax-gonauts, before they left Colchis. 
Apollodorus, however, assures us that Medea actually did return to iEetes, 
and was instrumental in restoring him to his kingdom, from which he 
had some time before been expelled. 

63 The torch, too.] — Ver. 237. Her suspicions suggest to her a less 
accommodating explanation of Hecuba's dream, than the passion of Paris 
had suggested to him. 

64 Two-fold trophy.] — Ver. 242. In having surpassed the other two 
Goddesses in beauty. 

65 Hippodamia. Ver. 248. Atrax, or Atracia, a town of Thessaly, was 
built by Atrax, the son of Peneus. Hence the term ' Atracian ' came 



194 THE EPISTLES OP THE HEROINES. [EP. XYII. 

the men of Hsemonia 65 to proclaim cruel warfare with the 
Centaurs ? And dost thou suppose that Menelaiis will be tardy 
in anger so reasonable, and my two brothers, 67 and Tyndarus ? 
Although thou dost boast so highly, and dost talk of thy valiant 
deeds, those features deprive their words of credit. Thy body 
is better suited to Venus than to Mars. Let the valiant wage 
the warfare ; do thou, Paris, ever be the lover. Bid Hector, 
whom thou dost praise, to fight for thee ; a different warfare 68 is 
deserving of thy pursuits. Of those would I take advantage, 
if I were wise, and were a little bolder ; any woman would 
take advantage of them, if she were wise. Or else, perhaps, 
I shall do so, all modesty laid aside ; and, in time, overcome, 
I shall extend my joined hands. 

As for thy asking, that in private we may speak a few words 
together ; I know what 69 thou dost aim at, and call a conversa- 
tion. But thou art too urgent ; and still is thy harvest 70 in 
the blade ; this delay may, perhaps, prove friendly to thy de- 
sires. At this point, my fingers now being weary, let my 
writing, the confidant of my concealed thoughts, bring to an 
end its secret task. The rest we may say through my 
companions,' 1 Clymene and iEthra, which two are both my 
attendants and my counsellors. 

to. be given generally to a native of Thessaly, like Hippodamia. Some 
writers would have her to be the daughter of Atrax, a river of Thessaly, hut 
on what authority is not known. 

66 H&monia.] — Ver. 248. The ' Haemonii viri' are the Lapithse, who 
were assisted by Nestor, Theseus, and Hercules. The battle of the Cen- 
taurs and the Lapithae is vividly described in the Twelfth Book of the 
Metamorphoses. 

67 My two brothers.] — Ver. 250. Ovid is at fault here, in speaking of 
her ' gemini fratres' as being then alive ; for, according to his account in 
the Fasti, Castor was slain in the combat with Lynceus, to which she has 
previously referred. 

68 Different warfare.'] — Ver. 255. This is 'in accordance with the 
spirit of the line in the ' Amores,' ' Militat omhis amans, et habet sua 
castra Cupido.' ' Every lover is a soldier, and Cupid has his camp.' 

69 / know what.] — Ver. 262. It is pretty clear that all shame and re- 
serve have now deserted her. 

70 Thy harvest.] — Ver. 263. Helen having given a particular answer 
to every thing that Paris has said in his letter, in such a manner as if she 
felt half inclined to reject his suit, concludes with a promise that she will 
prove favourable to his wishes, but requests him to have patience. 

71 My companions.] — Ver. 267. In addition to the former remarks 
on these confidants of Helen, we may here observe, that Hyginus says that 



EP. XTIII.] LEANDER TO HEEO. 195 

EPISTLE XVIII. 

LEANDER TO HERO.' 2 

The Hellespont (now the straits of Gallipoli, or the Dardanelles) is a 
narrow sea, that divides Europe from Asia. Sestos and Abydos 
were two cities that stood directly opposite to each other: the one on 
the European side, the native place of Hero ; the other in Asia, where 
Leander lived. These young persons, being violently enamoured of 
^each other, and fearing to let their passion be known by their 
parents, Leander can devise no other expedient for obtaining the 
society of his mistress, than by swimming over the Hellespont in 
the night, which he is in the habit of frequently doing. But a 
storm arising, by which he is detained from Hero for seven days, 
he writes this Epistle to her, and engages a bold mariner, in spite 
of the tempest, to cross over with it to Sestos. He endeavours, first, 
to convince her that his love is unchanged and unalterable, and he 
then launches forth into comlpaints that, by the unrelenting fury of the 
waves, he has been precluded from an opportunity of visiting her. 
In conclusion, he promises that he will be with her very soon ; and 
that, should the sea continue to rage, he will even prefer exposing 
himself to danger, than continue to be deprived of the pleasure of 
seeing and conversing with her. 

He of Abydos, Sestian fair, sends that health to thee which 
he would rather bring himself, if the rage 72 * of the sea should 
abate. 73 If the Gods 74 are favourable to me, and are propiti- 

Helen was accompanied to Troy by her two handmaids, /Ethra and Phisais, 
whom Castor and Pollux had given to her as slaves, and who had once 
been queens. 

72 Leander to Hero.'] — Barthius, in his Commentaries on the Thebaid 
of Statius, Book vi., 1. 545, can hardly venture to ascribe this Epistle to 
Ovid, because he finds that lines 247 and 248 are translations from Mu- 
sffius, unless, indeed, the author that goes by that name is of much more 
ancient date than that usually assigned to him by the learned. But this 
opinion is not in general supported ; and the Epistle is, without hesita- 
tion, assigned to Ovid. 

?2* If the rage.'] — Ver. 2. Instead of this and the preceding line, one 
oftheMSS. has 

* Quam cuperem solitas, Hero, tibi ferre per undas, 
Accipe, Leandri, dum venit ipse, manum' — 
' Receive, Hero, until he himself comes, the penmanship of Leander, 
which I could have wished to bear to thee through the waves as usual.' 

73 Should abate.] — Ver. 2. Heinsius conjectures that ' Sesti,' and not 
' Sesta,' is a more correct reading, were not all the MSS. against it. So 
impatient is Leander of lieing detained from Hero, that he canDot forbear 
complaining of it at the very beginning of his letter. 

74 If the Gods.] — Ver. 3. Commentators generally suppose that the 
1 Di ' here mentioned, are Venus and Cupid. There is reason, however, to 

02 



196 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOINES. [EP. XTIII. 

ous to my love, these words of mine thou wilt read with dis- 
contented eyes. 75 But they are not favourable ; for why do 
they delay my hopes, and permit me not to pass through the 
well-known waves ? 7s Thou thyself dost behold the heavens 

think that Neptune and the other marine Deities are also included, for in 
the fifth verse he says ' Sed non sunt faciles,' and gives, as a reason, that 
he is detained from his mistress by the tempestuous sea. 

75 Discontented eyes.] — Ver. 4. Not that his letter will be unaccept- 
able to her, but because she would rather see him, than barely hear from 
him. 

76 Well-known waves.] — Ver. 6. Relative to the passage of Leander 
over the Hellespont, we cannot do better than transcribe the following 
narrative. After Lord Byron had visited the Morea, as we learn from 
one of his biographers, he embarked for Constantinople on board the 
frigate, the Salsette, commanded by Captain Bathurst. While the ship 
was at anchor in the Dardanelles, a discussion arose among the officers on 
the possibility of swimming across the Hellespont, and thus verifying the 
narratives of Ovid and Musseus. Lord Byron and Lieutenant Ekenhead 
determined to try it ; and on the 3rd of May, 1810, they accomplished 
it. A fit of fever was the consequence, in the case of Lord Byron. Some 
time after this adventure, an Englishman, of the name of Turner, made 
a similar attempt, but without success ; and in an account of his travels, 
hs made some remarks on the narrative which Lord Byron had given 
of his exploit. The latter, offended at the doubts thrown on his veracity, 
thus writes to his friend Mr. Murray, from Ravenna, in a letter dated the 
21st February, 1821 (vol. v., p. 129, of the Edition in 17 volumes) : " In 
the forty-fourth page, Volume First, of Turner's Travels (which you lately 
sent me), it is stated that * Lord Byron, when he expressed such confidence 
of its practicability, seems to have forgotten that Leander swam both 
ways, with and against the tide ; whereas he (Lord Byron) only per- 
formed the easiest part of the task, by swimming with it from Europe to 
Asia.' I certainly could not have forgotten what is known to every school- 
boy, that Leander crossed in the night, and returned towards the morning. 
My object was, to ascertain that the Hellespont could be crossed at all by 
swimming, and in this Mr. Ekenhead and. myself both succeeded ; the 
one in an hour and ten minutes, the other, in an hour and five minutes. 
The tide was not in our favour ; on the contrary, the great difficulty was 
to bear up against the current, which, so far from helping us unto the 
Asiatic side, sent us right down towards the Archipelago. Neither Mr. 
Ekenhead nor myself, nor, I will venture to add, any person on board the 

frigate , had any notion of a difference of the current on the 

Asiatic side, of which Mr. Turner speaks. I never heard of it till this 
moment, or I would have taken the other course. Lieutenant Eken- 
head's sole motive, and mine also, for setting out from the European side 
was, that the little cape above Sestos was a more prominent starting 
place, and the frigate which lay below, close under the Asiatic castle, 
formed a better point of view for us to swim towards ; and, in fact, we 



EP. XYITI.] LEANDER TO HERO. IS/ 

blacker than pitch : the seas, ' too, swelling with the winds, 
and hardly to be stemmed by the hollow barks. One mari- 

landed immediately below it. Mr. Turner says, ' Whatever is thrown 
into the stream on this part of the European bank, must arrive at the 
Asiatic shore.' This is so far from being the case, that it must arrive in 
the Archipelago, if left to the current, although a strong wind in the 
Asiatic direction might have such an effect occasionally. Mr. Turner 
attempted the passage from the Asiatic side, and failed; ' after five and 
twenty minutes, in which he did not advance a hundred yards, he gave 
it up, from complete exhaustion.' This is very possible, and might have 
occurred to him just as readily on the European side. He should have 
set out a couple of miles higher, and could then have come out below 
the European castle. I particularly stated, and Mr. Hobhouse has done 
so also, that we were obliged to make the passage of one mile 
extend to between three and four, owing to the force of the stream. 
I can assure Mr. Turner that his success would have given me great plea- 
sure, as it would have added one more instance to the proofs of the pro- 
bability. It is not quite fair in him to infer that, because he failed, Lean- 
der could not succeed. There are still four instances on record : a Nea- 
politan, a young Jew, Mr. Ekenhead, and myself ; the two last done in the 
presence of hundreds of English witnesses. With regard to the difference 
of the current, I perceived none: it is unfavourable to the swimmer on either 
side, but may be stemmed by plunging into the sea, a considerable way 
above the opposite point of the coast which the swimmer wishes to make, 
but still bearing up against it ; it is strong, but if you calculate well, you 
may reach land. My own experience, and that of others, bids me pro- 
nounce the passage of Leander perfectly practicable. Any young man, 
in good and tolerable skill in swimming, might succeed in it from either 
side. I was three hours in swimming across the Tagus, which is much 

more hazardous, being two hours longer than the Hellespont. 1 

crossed the Hellespont in one hour and ten minutes only. I am now ten 
years older in time, and twenty in constitution, than I was when I crossed 
the Dardanelles, and yet two years ago I was capable of swimming four 
hours and twenty minutes : and I am sure that I could have continued 
two hours longer, though I had on a pair of trowsers, an accoutrement 
which by no means assists the performance. With this experience in swim- 
ming at different periods of life, not only upon the spot, but elsewhere 
of various persons, what is there to make me doubt that Leander's ex- 
ploit was perfectly practicable ? If these individuals did more than the 

passage of the Hellespont, why should he have done less ? That a 

young Greek, of the heroic times, in love, and with his limbs in full 
vigour, might have succeeded in such an attempt, is neither wonderful 
nor doubtful. Whether he attempted it or not, is another question, be- 
cause he might have had a small boat to save him the trouble." With 
reference to this last remark, we will only add, that there is no proof that 
Leander had sufficient funds of his own to purchase a small boat ; and in 
the next place, the use of it must have greatly facilitated that discovery 



198 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOLfTES. [EP. XVIII. 

ner, and he a bold one, by whom my letter is delivered to thee, 
has steered his course from the harbour ,• I would have em- 
barked, 77 were it not that all Abydos was on the heights, 78 when 
he unfastened the moorings of his prow. I could not have 
been concealed from my parents, as before ; and that love 
which we wish to be concealed, could not have been hidden. 

At once, writing this, I said, " Go, happy Epistle ; soon 
will she be extending her beauteous hand to thee. Perhaps 
thou wilt be pressed by the lips of my mistress applied to thee ; 
while she shall be attempting to break thy fastenings 79 with her 
snow-white teeth." Such words being spoken by me in a low 
whisper, the rest has my right hand uttered together with the 
paper. But how much would I rather that right hand should 
do its part in swimming, than that it should write, and that, 
labouring, it should bear me through the accustomed waves ! 
Better fitted, indeed, is it to lash the placid deep : and yet it is 
the fitting minister of my feelings. The seventh night is now 
passing, a space to me more tedious than a year, since the 
troubled sea has raged with its hoarse billows. If on these 
nights I have experienced sleep that soothes the breast, lasting 
may prove this delay of the boisterous deep. Seated on some 
rock, in sadness I look upon thy shores ; and in thought I 
am carried whither I cannot be carried in person. My eyes, 
too, either behold, or think that they behold, the light 80 that 
keeps the watch on the summit of thy tower. Three times 
have I thrown aside my garments SJ on the dry sand ; thrice, 

which he was so anxious to avoid, and which precluded him from ventur- 
ing in the boat which carried his letter. 

77 Have embarked.] — Ver. 11. He says this, to satisfy her that his not 
venturing with the mariner is not from want of courage or inclination, 
but because the influx of spectators renders it impossible for him to be 
concealed ; he haying hitherto kept his passion from the knowledge of his 
parents. 

78 On the heights.] — Ver. 12. ' Specula ' frequently means ' a watch- 
tower,' but here it signifies' the heights adjoining the town. 

79 Thy fastenings.'] — Ver. 18. This was the pack-thread with which 
the tablets were fastened together, and which was sealed with wax. In 
her impatience she would be likely to break it with her teeth, instead of 
waiting for knife or scissars. 

80 Behold the light.] — Ver. 31. He alludes to the torch which she kept 
burning, as his guide when swimming. 

81 My garments.] — Ver. 33. We must suppose that he was in the 



EP. XYIII.] LEAKDER TO HERO. 199 

stripped, have I attempted to proceed ou the perilous way. 
The swelling sea opposed my youthful attempts/ 2 and over- 
whelmed my features as I swam in its hostile waves. 

But thou, most inexorable of the boisterous winds, why, 
with determined mind, dost thou wage war with me ? Against 
me, Boreas, if thou knowest it not, and not against the ocean, 
dost thou rage. What wouldst thou do, if love were not 
known to thee ? So cold as thou art, still, perverse wind, 
thou dost not deny that thou once wast warm with Actsean 
fires. 83 When about to snatch thy joys, if any one had wished 
to shut against thee the aerial paths, in what manner wouldst 
thou have submitted to it ? Pity me, I pray; and more mildly 
impel the gentle gales : then may the grandson of Hippotas 84 
lay no harsh commands on thee. In vain do I entreat, and 
against my petitions does he murmur ; the billows, too, which 
he agitates, in no measure does he restrain. that Daedalus 85 
would now grant me the daring wings ! although the Icarian 
shore is so near to this. Whatever shall be the event, I will 
endure it ; only let me raise my body into the air, which so 
oft has poised itself in the uncertain waves. 

In the meantime, while the the winds and the waves are 
denying me everything, in my mind, I revolve the first mo- 
ments of my stolen joys. 5 Twas the beginning of night (for 
there is a delight in remembering it) when, full of love, I de- 
habit of depositing his clothes in some recess of a rock, or other spot, 
where they would remain safe until his return. 

82 Youthful attempts.'] — Ver. 35. That is, attempts which more mature 
years would not have ventured upon. 

83 Actcean fires.] — Ver. 42. It has been already remarked that Boreas 
was said to have carried off Orithyia, the daughter of Erectheus, king of 
Athens ; the shores of which were called ' Actsean.' 

84 Of Hippotas.] — Ver. 46. Commentators think that there were two 
persons of the name of ^Eolus ; the one, the son of Jupiter, by Segesta, 
Egesta, or Acesta, the daughter of Hippotas, (though the Scholiast on 
Homer makes him the son of Hippotas) and the other, the son of Hellen, 
who was the son of Jupiter. The former was the one who was visited 
by Ulysses, while the latter is supposed to have been the father of Sal- 
moneus, Sisyphus, Creteus, Athamas, and others. 

85 That Dadalus.] — Ver. 49. The story of Daedalus and Icarus is 
beautifully told in the Eighth Book of the Metamorphoses. Leander al- 
ludes to the fate of Icarus, to make Hero sensible of the strength of his 
passion, to which no danger appears considerable, when opposed to the 
hope of conversing with her. 



200 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOIXE3. [EP. XVTII. 

parted from my father's door. There was no delay ; throwing 
off all fear together with my clothes, I dashed my pliant 
arms in the yielding sea. The Moon, like a kind attendant 
upon my path, offered an almost tremulous light as I speeded. 
Looking up at her, I said, " Favour me, bright Goddess ; and 
let the Latmian cliffs 86 recur to thy mind. Endymion can- 
not permit thee to be of unrelenting disposition ; turn thy 
features, 87 I pray, to these my stolen delights. Thou, God- 
dess, 88 descending from heaven, didst go in quest of a mortal ; 
let me be allowed to say the truth ; she, whom I pursue, is 
herself a Goddess. Not to mention her disposition, worthy of 
a heavenly breast ; that beauty is not ranked but among the 
real Goddesses. After the face of Venus and thine own there 
is not one superior; and do not trust my words, thou beholdest 
her thyself. As much as, when thou dost shine with thy pure 
rays in silvery effulgence, all the stars gave way before thy 
flames, so much is she more beauteous than all the beau- 
teous ; if thou dost doubt it, Cynthia, 89 thou hast a darkened 
light." 

Having said these words, or, at least, words not differing 
from them in meaning, in the night was I borne along the 
yielding waters. The waves shone with the brightness of 
the reflected Moon, and there was the brilliancy of day in 
the silent night ; and no voice, no murmur came to my 
ears, but that of the water moved by my body. The 
halcyons alone, 90 remembering the once loved Ceyx, seemed 
to utter I know not what sweet complaints. And now, my 

56 Latmian cliffs.'] — Ver. 62. Latmos was a mountain of Caria, near 
the coast of the iEgean Sea. It was famous for the Amours there of 
Cynthia, or Diana, and Endymion. 

87 Thy features. .] — Ver. 64. He rightly uses ' vultus,' ' features,' rather 
than ' cor,' ' feelings,' because at this time he stood in need chiefly of her 
light, to aid him in swimming. 

88 Thou, Goddess.] — Ver. 65. Here he enforces his prayer by mention- 
ing the reason on which he grounds his hope of her favour. Love was 
so powerful with Cynthia, that she left heaven in quest of a mortal. What 
wonder, then,, if he is so eager in the pursuit of one whom he esteems as 
a Goddess ? 

89 Cynthia.] — Ver. 74. Diana is called 'Cynthia,' from Cynthus, a 
mountain of the isle of Delos, the place of her hirth. 

90 The halcyons alone.] — Ver. 81. This affecting story, so very touch - 
ingly referred to, is related in the Eleventh Book of the Metamorphoses. 



EP. rVIII.] LEANEEB, TO HEEO. 201 

arms fatigued from below each shoulder, 91 with an effort, I 
raised myself 92 on high, on the surface of the waves. . When 
I beheld a light afar off, I said, "My flame is in that flame ; 
my light 93 do those shores contain." And suddenly the 
strength returned to my wearied shoulders ; and the waves 
seemed to me more pliant than they had been. The love which 
warmed in my eager breast caused me not to be able to feel 
the chill of the cold sea. The more I advanced, and the 
nearer was the shore and the less the distance that remained, 
the more was I delighted to proceed. 

But when I could be seen as well, at once thou as specta- 
tress, 94 didst give me spirits, and didst cause me to feel vi- 
gour. Now, even by my swimming do I strive to please my 
mistress, and before thy eyes do I throw out my arms. Thy 
nurse, 95 with difficulty, hinders thee from descending into 
the deep. For this did I see also ; and thou wast not de- 
ceiving me. And yet she did not, although, when proceed- 
ing, she held thee back, hinder thy foot from becoming wet 
with the water at the margin. Thou didst receive me in 
thy embrace, and didst give me delightful kisses ; kisses, ye 
great Gods, 95 worthy to be sought beyond the seas. And 
thy garments, 97 taken from thy shoulders, thou didst hand 

91 Beloiv each shoulder.] — Ver. 83. It is just beneath the shoulder 
that pain and weariness is first felt after long swimming. 

92 Raised myself.'] — Yer. 84. Probably to catch a glimpse of the light 
above the billows that were dashing around him. 

93 My light.] — Ver. 86. 'Lumen,' 'light/ and not ' numen,' ' divinity,' 
would seem to be the proper reading, as a reiteration of the meaning 
conveyed by the word ' ignis,' ' fire,' in the preceding line. 

94 As spectatress.] — Ver. 94. Hero, standing as 'spectatrix' on the 
heights of Sestos, can hardly fail to remind us of the equally hapless 
Eliza of modern times, immortahzed by Darwin : 

1 Now stood Eliza on the wood-crowned height, 
O'er Minden's plain, spectatress of the fight.' 

95 Thy nurse.] — Ver. 97. We may here remark, that the 'nutrices,' or 
1 nurses ' of antiquity, do not seem to have been so relentless to the fair 
damsels committed to their charge, as the more unaccommodating duennas 
of modern Spain and Italy. 

96 Ye great Gods.] — Ver. 102. These exclamations are frequent with 
the Poet, and have considerable beauty in them, when aptly introduced. 

9 " Thy garments.] — Ver. 103. There is something comical in the 
notion of Leander wearing Hero's petticoats ; but perhaps they were only 



202 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XVIII. 

to me ; and thou didst wring the water of the sea from 
my wet hair. The night, ourselves, and the conscious tower, 
and that light which showed me the way through the deep, 
know the rest. No more can the joys of that night be 
reckoned, than can the weeds of the Hellespontic sea. The 
shorter the time that was afforded for our stolen joys, the 
greater was our care that it should not be idly spent. 

And now, the wife of Tithonus about to banish the night, 
Lucifer, the forerunner of Aurora, 98 had risen. We mutually 
snatched repeated kisses without intermission, and we com- 
plained that too short was the duration of the night. And 
thus delaying, " at the hateful warning of thy nurse, leaving 
the tower, I repaired to the cold sea-shore. Weeping, we 
parted, and I entered again the sea of the Virgin -, 1 always, 
so long as I could, looking back 2 on my mistress. If there is 
any believing the truth, as I went to thee, I seemed to be 
really a swimmer; 3 as I returned, I seemed to myself to be 
a shipwrecked man. 4 This too. if thou canst believe it ; 

lent him by the damsel till he could get under shelter, where he may pos- 
sibly have had a change of garments in readiness. 

98 Of Aurora.] — Ver. 112. It may he remarked that the planet which 
we call Venus, when appearing in the morning before sunrise, was called 
by the ancients Lucifer and Phosphorus, and by us is called the Morning 
Star ; when it appeared after sunset, they called it Hesperus, as we call it 
the Evening Star. 

9S Thus delaying.] — Ver. 115. The force of the word 'cunctatus' 
cannot be very easily expressed in English : it signifies ' having from time 
to time disregarded the warnings of the nurse, and having delayed giving 
obedience to them.' As morning draws near, the nurse warns him of the 
necessity of his departing, but he still insists on prolonging his stay. 

1 Of the Virgin.'] — Ver. 117. Helle, the sister of Phryxus, who gave 
her name to the Hellespont, is here alluded to. 

2 Looking back.] — Ver. 118. ' Respiciens' alludes probably to the 
time when he was going down to the shore ; or it may possibly mean, that 
while he was swimming, he continually looked back on his mistress. 

3 A swimmer.] — Ver. 119. 'Natator' here means, ' a regular swim- 
mer,' 'one that knows how to swim,' in contradistinction to ' naufragus;' 
as a shipwrecked person is obliged to swim, whether he understands the 
art or not, if he wishes to escape death. 

4 A shipwrecked man.] — Ver. 120. A critic of the name of Robertus 
Titius, whose work is mentioned by Burmann, explains this passage, as 
thinking that Leander means to say, that when he swam to his mistress 
he swam perpendicularly, but that when he left her he floated on his 
back, like the body of a shipwrecked person ; this he thinks to be the 



EJ. XVIII.] LEANDER TO HERO. -203 

towards thee the path seemed a declivity ; when I returned 
from thee, it seemed a steep mountain of sluggish water. Re- 
luctantly did I repair to my native place ; who could have 
believed it? With reluctance, assuredly, do I now remain 
in my own city. Ah me ! why, joined in inclination, are 
we disjoined by the waves 1 And why does one mind, and not 
one land, possess us two ? Either let thy Sestos receive me, or 
my Abydos thee. Thy land is as pleasing to me as is my 
own to thee. Why am I troubled myself, so oft as the sea is 
troubled 1 Why is the wind, so slight a cause, able to annoy 



me 



Now are the curving dolphins acquainted with our loves ; 
and to the fishes 5 I do not think that I am unknown. Now is 
the beaten path of the well-known waves distinctly marked; no 
otherwise than a highway, worn 6 by many a wheel. 7 I used to 
complain that it was not possible for me to cross in any 
manner but this ; but now I complain, that, through the 
winds, even this is withdrawn from me. The seas of the 
daughter of Athamas are white with enormous billows, and 

more probable, from Leander saying that he kept looking back on his mis- 
tress, which, according to him, he could not do unless he was floating. 
But this notion seems to be more ingenious than well founded ; for, when 
going, Leander says that he felt like one who was a regular swimmer, who 
knew how to swim and took a delight in it, and that he passed through 
the water with ease ; whereas, on his return, he had to labour, as though 
he was ascending a hill of water, and his struggles against the waves 
resembled the convulsive efforts of a shipwrecked person. • Respicere,' 
clearly means to look back, by turning the head round. If he had looked 
on his mistress while floating, ' adspicere' would have been used. 

5 To the fishes.'] — Ver. 132. There is something, almost comical in the 
notion of the fishes having made his acquaintance. 

6 Highway worn.'] — Ver. 134. The Romans not understanding the 
improvement of macadamizing their roads, ruts were soon worn in the 
streets by the chariots and carts. The imprint of Roman wheels is (or 
was till lately) discernible in the streets of Pompeii. 

7 Many a wheel.] — Ver. 134. The wheels used by the ancients re- 
volved on the axle, as in the carriages of modem times, and were pre- 
vented, by pins inserted, from falling off. The wheels consisted of 
naves, spokes, which varied much in number, the felly, or wooden 
circumference, made of elastic wood, such as the poplar and wild fig, 
and composed of several segments united, and the tire, which was of 
metal. Some of their carts and waggons had wheels made of a solid 
circle of "wood, in shape like a milestone, with the axle running through 
the middle ; similar wheels are used in the South of Europe at the pre- 
sent day. 



204 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XVJTI. 

hardly does the bark remain safe in its harbour. I think 
that this sea, when it first obtained the name from the Virgin 
that was drowned, which it now retains, was such as now it 
appears. This place, too, is sufficiently disgraced by the 
loss of Helle ; and though it should spare me, it has a 
name from its misdeeds. I envy Phryxus, whom the golden 
sheep, with its woolly fleece, bore in safety over the stormy 
seas. 

And yet, I require the aid neither of the ram nor of the 
bark ; let only the waters be granted me, for me to cleave 
with my body. Of no art do I stand in need ; let me only 
have the opportunity of swimming, I, the same individual, 
will be both ship, mariner, and passenger. 8 I will neither 
follow Helice, 9 nor Arctos, which Tyre observes ; my passion 
has no regard for stars that belong to the public. 10 Let others 
watch Andromeda, or the bright Crown, 11 and the Parrhasian 
Bear, 12 which glitters in the frozen sky. But the object which 
Perseus and Liber 13 loved, together with Jove, does not please 
me to be the guide 14 of my uncertain path. There is another 
light, much more unerring than they ; that the guide, my 
passion, will not be in the dark. So long as I should keep 
that in sight, I could go to Colchis, 15 and to the remotest re- 

s And passenger. ~\ — Ver. 148. The primary meaning of the word 'vector' 
1 is one who carries,' but here it evidently means, ' passenger ;' though 
in Davison's translation, ' pilot,' or ' master,' is suggested as being possibly 
its signification. 

3 Follow Helice.'] — Ver. 149. For an account of Helice and Arctos, 
see the Notes on the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 207. 

10 To the public.'] — Ver. 150. ' Publica sidera,' may be rendered, in the 
language of the present day, 'the stars of the million.' 

11 Bright Crown.] — Ver. 151. He refers to the crown of Ariadne; see 
the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 516. 

12 Parrhasian Bear.] — Ver. 152. For an account of the Parrhasian 
or Arcadian bear, see the Fasti, book ii. 1. 153, et seq. 

13 Perseus and Liber.] — Ver. 153. He alludes to the intrigue of 
Jupiter with Calisto, the love of Bacchus for Ariadne, and of Perseus for 
Andromeda. See the story of Perseus and Andromeda, in the Meta- 
morphoses, at the end of the Fourth Book. 

u To be the guide.] — Ver. 154. He determines that he will have no 
other guide than his own mistress ; he may perhaps intend by the mention 
of ' lumen' in the next line, to refer to the light of her torch. 

15 Go to Colchis.] — Ver. 157. He here alludes to the expedition of 
the Argonauts, to shew with what security and confidence he would 



EP. XVIII.] LEA^DEE TO HEEO. 205 

gions of Pontus, and where the Thessalian ship cleaved its 
path ; I could excel even the youthful Palsemon 16 in swim- 
ming, and him whom the wondrous grass 17 suddenly changed 
into a Divinity. 

Often do my arms grow weak with the constant movements, 
and they are moved with difficulty along the boundless waters. 
When to them I say, " No unworthy reward is there for your 
labour ; soon shall I give you the neck of my mistress to be 
pressed;" forthwith do they become vigorous, and press on for 
their prize, just like the swift steed sent forth from the Elean 
starting-place. 18 I, myself, therefore, observe 19 the passion 
with which I am consumed : and thee do I follow, fair one 
better deserving of the heavens. Deserving, indeed, of the 
heavens, but still abide on earth ; or say what path there is 
for me as well to the Gods above. Here on earth art thou, 
and seldom dost thou fall to the lot of thy unhappy lover ; 
and, together with my feelings, do the seas become troubled. 
What avails it me that I am not separated by the vast ocean 
from thee ? Is this strip of water so narrow, any the less an ob- 
stacle to us ? I am in doubt, 20 whether, removed afar by the 

trust himself to the direction of his propitious star ; and he says that, 
depending upon this guide, he would even venture upon the most dan- 
gerous expedition, like that of Jason to Colchis, in quest of the Golden 
Fleece. 

16 Palcemon.] — Ver. 159. Palsemon was the name which Melicerta, 
the son of Ino, received as a Divinity among the Greeks. The story of 
Ino and Melicerta is told in the Fourth Book of the Metamorphoses, and 
is referred to in the Sixth Book of the Fasti. 

17 Wondrous grass.] — Ver. 160. He alludes to Glaucus, who was 
changed into a Sea-God, on tasting a certain plant. The story is told 
at the end of the Thirteenth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

18 Elean starting-place.'} — Ver. 166. He alludes to the Olympic games, 
which were celebrated iu the territory of Elis, in the Peloponnesus. 

19 Therefore observe.'] — Ver. 167. 'Servo' means here 'to watch,' as 
the sailors watch the stars ; ' to take observations from.' It must be 

, remembered that the stars and constellations were the only guides with 
the mariners of ancient times, by which to steer their course. 

20 I am in doubt.] — Ver. 175. Leander here expresses himself in the 
language of peculiar anxiety and distress. He is almost within sight of 
his mistress, and yet he is as much deprived of her company as if they 
were separated from each other by the greatest distance. That nearness has 
given him hopes of being with her soon ; but accidents intervene to prevent 
it, and his hope changes into impatience and distraction. In this anxiety 
of mind, he thinks it would be better for him to be at a distance from 



206 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XTIII. 

earth's whole extent, I would not prefer to have my hopes, 
together with my mistress, so far removed. 

The nearer thou now art, with the more violent flame am I 
warmed ; and the object is not ever present to me, the hope is. 
With my hand almost, 21 (so great is our proximity) do I touch 
the object that I love ; but, oftentimes, alas ! this almost moves 
me to tears. 22 What else is this than to attempt to grasp the 
retreating apples, and with one's lips to pursue the hopes of 
the receding stream ? And shall I then never clasp thee, but 
when the waves shall choose ? And shall no storms look upon 
me in a state of blessedness ? And, though there is nothing less 
constant than the wind and the waves, in the wind and the water 
shall my hopes be for ever centred ? Besides, as yet it is the 
warm season ; what will it be when the Pleiades 23 shall arouse 
the waves for me, and Arctophylax, 24 and the Olenian goat ! 25 
Either I do not know to what extent he is venturesome, or else, 
even then, Love will send me in my rashness into the sea. And 
do not suppose that I make promises for that time, because it 
is at a distance ; I will give thee no slow proofs of the reality 
of my promises. Even now let the sea be boisterous for a few 

her, because in that case he would endeavour quietly to submit to his fate, 
and he would not feel himself exposed to the mortification of frequent 
disappointments. 

21 My hand almost .] — Ver. 179. It must be remembered that only 
about a mile intervened between them. 

23 Moves me to tears."] — Ver. 180. We have here an admirable picture 
of a man fluctuating between hope and disappointment. Hi3 manner 
and expressions betray the impatience of his soul, and his comparison of 
himself to Tantalus is happy in the extreme. There was some resem- 
blance between their two cases, and it was natural for such gloomy 
ideas to present themselves to a mind labouring under such peculiar per- 
plexities. 

23 The Pleiades.'] — Ver. 188. For an account of the Pleiades, see the 
Fasti, Book iv. 1. 169, and Note. 

24 Arctophylax.] — Ver. 188. For the story of Arctophylax, Bootes, or 
the Bearward, see the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 19L 

25 Olenian goat.] — Ver. 188. For the history of the Olenian she-goat, 
see the Fasti, Book v. 1. 113, et seq. In addition to what is there stated, 
we may remark that the epithet ' Olenian ' is by some thought to have 
been derived from Olenus, a son of Vulcan, the father of iEga and ^Elia, 
Jupiter's nurses ; but how Vulcan's grandchildren can possibly have been 
the nurses of Jupiter, is a mythological anachronism that it would be use- 
less to attempt to rectify. 



EP. XVin.] LEANDER TO HEEO. 207 

nights longer, and I will attempt to pass through the resist- 
ing waves. 

Either, in safety, shall my boldness meet with success, or 
else death shall be the end of my anxious affection. Still I 
shall, wish 26 to be thrown up on that side ; and for my 
shipwrecked limbs to reach thy harbour. But thou wilt 
weep, and wilt honour my breathless body with thy embrace, 
and thou wilt say, " I was the cause of his death." No 
doubt thou wilt be hurt at this omen of my death ; and my 
letter in this part is a cause of trouble to thee. I desist; forbear 
to complain ; but that the seas may put an end to their fury, 
let thy prayer be added, I pray, to my own. I have need 
of a short calm, until I am carried over to the other side ; 
when I shall have reached thy shore, let the storm continue. 
There is the dock 27 best suited for my bark; and in no 
waters does my ship more conveniently stand at anchor. 

Let Boreas shut me up there, where it is so delightful to 
abide ; then shall I be slow to swim, then shall I be pru- 
dent. I will neither utter any reproaches to the deaf waves, 
nor will I complain that the sea is rough for me about to 
swim. Let both the winds and thy arms as well detain me ; and 
may I be delayed there by a twofold cause. When the storm 
shall allow of it, I will employ my arms, the oars of my body ; 
only do thou always hold the torch in sight. In the mean- 
time, instead of myself, let my letter pass the night with thee ; 
I pray that I may follow it with very little delay. 

26 I shall irish.] — Ver. 197. Nothing can be more affecting than this 
wish of Leander, as it gives a strong picture of the violence of his pas- 
sion, and shews at the same time the tender and pathetic sentiments with 
which it has inspired him. As love, when firmly implanted in the heart, 
is attentive to a thousand little particulars, which a mind not similarly 
affected would overlook or perhaps despise as trifling, Leander seems here 
to take a pleasure in the imagination of what may happen, should his 
body be thrown on shore in the sight of Hero. Her tender complaints 
and her transports of grief are all foreseen, and he considers them a re- 
compense for his hard fate. It may be here remarked, that this, in the 
end, proved to be Leander's fate. After he had often crossed successfully, 
a storm arising one fatal night, Hero in the morning beheld his body 
floating near the shore. 

27 Is the dock.] — Ver. 207. ' Navale' was properly a dock where 
ships were either built, refitted, or laid up. There were • navalia' at 
Rome connected with the Tiber. The docks of the Piraeus of Athens 
cost a thousand talents in their erection. 



208 THE EPISTLES OF TITE HEROINES. [ZP. XI \. 

EPISTLE XIX. 
HERO TO LEANDER. 

rang the letter of Lewder, retrain this answer. Her 
chad . ray her ardent return of his passion, and with thu 

view she s<- ; ; i m of neglect, while i berown 

constancy and unalterable affect ion. 

I to a fear that Lander may have transferred his aA 
another; hut I the unkind suspicion, and ascribes all to 

the well-known anxiety of lovers, who are apt to fancy themselves 
threatened wi' Alarmed by an ominous dream, she 

entreats him not to venture till the sea is calm. 

Loo that I may in reality enjoy that health which 

thov • to me in words, come hither. Tedious is 

every delay for me, that postpones our delights. Pardon the 
confession ; I love with no ordinary endurance. With equal 
flames do we burn ; but I am not equal to thee in strength ; 
1 think that the feelings of men must be more resolute. As 

thai body, so, with females, is the mind weak ; add the 
delay of hnf a short time, and I shall be overpowered. 

You hunting, sometimes by cultivating 

the prolific earth, dispose of the long hours in various pur- 

Either the courts of justice 3 " occupy you, or i\\c 

honours of the anointed 'palaestra' ;* or else with the rein 

mriSer.] — Ver. 1. Thi. 1 ling one, with 

an affecti' on, and ardent expressions of her 

Leander once again. 

r. 10. Hero proceeds to give some reasons why bo 
ration must prove more irksome to her than to himself. Men, 
Med by nature with more resolution and strength of mind, 
may. ppased to be more capable of enduring distress. They 

have it, r their power to dispel anxiety by a variety of amuse- 

>men, on the contrary, are deprived of these resources : 
in particular, is able to do nothing but to think and to talk of her 
:er. Her whole reasoning is wonderfully adapted not only to prove 
ana advanced, but also to win the affections of her lover, by in- 
how dear I 
-' . •• — Yfj-. 11. Pleading 11 ■ i their clients 

in the courts, was a favourite pursuit with the noble youth of B 
Indeed, it may be said to have been almost universally pru 

minted Pat&asfra.] — Ver. 11. The 'palaestrae' of thi I 
where wrestling and other athletic exercises were practised, were public 
buildings ; but among the Romans, they were not public, but a 



EP. XIX.] EEEO TO LEAOT)EE. 209 

you guide the neck of the swift steed. At one time you are 
catching the bird with the snare, at another, the fish with the 
hook ; the later hours are drenched in the wine set on table. 22 
To me, removed from these pursuits, nothing is left to do, 
even if I were inflamed less intensely, but to love. That 
which is left me, I do ; and thee, my only happiness ! do 
I love, even more than can possibly be returned to me. 
Either I am whispering about thee with my dear nurse, and 
am wondering what cause can be delaying thy passage ; or 
else, looking out on the sea, I reprove the ocean, aroused hj 
the hateful winds, almost in thy own words ; or, when the 
angry waves remit a little of their rage, I complain that thou 
mights t indeed, but that thou art not desirous to, come. And 
as I complain, the tears trickle from my loving eyes, which 
with palsied fingers, the old woman, my confidant, dries up. 

Often do I search if thy foot-prints are on the shore ; as 
though the sand 33 would retain the marks once placed there. 
And that I may enquire about thee, and may write to thee, 
I enquire if any one has either come from Abydos, or if 
one is going to Abydos. 34 Why should I mention, how often 
I give kisses to the clothes, 35 which thou didst put off when 
about to go into the waters of the Hellespont ? So, when 

attached to the villas of the wealthy. The 'palaestra' is here called 'uncta,' 
from the ' ceroma' or oil with which the wrestler was anointed. 

32 Set on table.'} — Ver. 14. After the busines-s of the day was over, 
the Romans took their ' coena,' or principal meal. The time for the 
■ coena' is supposed to have been from two to three o'clock ; after that 
was over, the rest of the evening was devoted by many to wine and con- 
versation. The meal often occupied as much as three hours, or even 
more. 

33 As though the sand.~\ — Ver. 28. Nothing can be more natural or 
better conceived than this. Lovers are ready to believe everything that 
conduces to soothe their passion j and even impossibilities are by them 
strongly fancied to be possible. What can be more unlikely than that 
the sand, constantly washed by the sea, should retain the traces of his foot- 
steps ? And yet Hero, as if fully persuaded of it, runs to the sea-shore to 
look for them. 

34 Going to Jbydos.] — Ver. 30. Heinsius thinks that this line and the 
preceding one are in a very corrupt state, and that the distich which 
follows ought to be placed before them. 

35 To the clofhesJ — Ver. 31. This perhaps refers to the change of 
clothes which Hero was in the habit of keeping for him ; or, possibly, to 
her own garments, which she was accustomed to throw over him when he 
had landed. 



210 THE EPISTLES OP THE HEROINES. [EP. XIX. 

light has been dispelled, and, the day chased away, the more 
grateful hour of night has shewn the bright stars ; straightway 
do I set the watchful light at the top of the tower, the guide 
and the mark of thy wonted path. And lengthening the 
twisted threads with the turning spindle, in feminine employ- 
ment we beguile the tedious hours. Dost thou enquire what I 
am saying in the meanwhile, during this period so long? 
Nothing but the name of Leander is on my lips. " Dost 
thou think, nurse, that my love has now left his home ? Or 
are they all on the watch, and is he afraid of his relations ? 
Dost thou think that he is now putting his garments from off 
his shoulders, and that he is now anointing his limbs with 
unctuous oil?'* 30 

Mostly she gives a nod of assent ; not that she is alluding 
to my kisses ; but slumber, creeping on, shakes her aged 
head. 37 And then, after 38 a very short delay, I say, "Now for 
certain, he is swimming, and is moving his pliant arms in 
the divided waves." And when I have finished a few 
threads, they touching the ground, 39 I enquire whether thou 

36 Unctuous oil.'] — Ver. 44. ' Pallade' is here used instead of ' oleo,' 
' oil' ; as Pallas, or Minerva, is said to have first taught men the use of 
oil. Such as excelled in swimming, when they were aware that they 
should have occasion to use all their strength, were accustomed to anoint 
themselves with this, as being of great service to them ; inasmuch as it not 
only made the joints active and supple, but prevented them from being 
numbed by the coldness of the water. 

37 Her aged head.] — Ver. 46. This description of the nurse nodding 
in her doze, is extremely natural ; it was not likely that she should take 
as much interest in these lucubrations as her charge did. 

33 And then after.] — Ver. 47. The Poet's ingenuity is here shewn 
in its perfection. He knew full well that the imagination is never more 
actively engaged, than when employed about an absent and beloved ob- 
ject. It is not only apt to run over all the scenes that have passed be- 
tween them, but also to fancy the manner in which the absent person 
may be at that moment employed. The wish being ' father to the thought,' 
Hero naturally imagines every instant what she earnestly desires, namely, 
that Leander is preparing to swim across to her. 

33 Touching the ground.] — Ver. 49. 'Tacta perfeci stamina terra,' 
Heinsius rejects the common reading here, and professes that he is not 
able to understand what the Poet means by ' tacta terra.' Several copies, 
he observes, have ' tela,' ; the thread ;' an emendation which he highly 
approves. He also conjectures that, by a mistake of the transcribers, 
' tacta' has been put in the place of ' tracta ;' for ' trahere telam,' to ' draw 
out the thread/ was as common a phrase as ' trahere lanam,' ' trahere 



HP. XIX.] HEBO TO ISA3TDEB. . I I 

canst be in the midst of the sea. And sometimes I look out ; 
sometimes, with faltering voice, I pray that a propitious breeze 
may give thee an easy passage. Sometimes I catch the noises 
with my ear, and I believe that every sound is that of thy 
approach. When thus the greatest part of the beguiled 
night* has been past by me, sleep insensibly steals upon 
wearied eyes. Then, perhaps, unkind one, though unwil- 
lingly, thou art sleeping together with me ; and though thou 
thyself desirest not to come, thou dost come. For sometimes 
I seem to behold thee swimming close to me ; and now, 
placing thy dripping arms upon my shoulders ; now, as I 
am wont, I seem to be reaching thee the garments for thy 
wet hmbs, and now to be clasping thy breast close to my 
bosom. And many a thing besides, not to be mentioned by 
a modest tongue ; which give delight in the doing, but which 
;n done, I am ashamed to name. 

Ah, wretched me !" :: a short-lived and an unsubstantial plea- 
sure is this ; for with my slumbers thou art ever wont to de- 
part. that we 4 '- eager lovers may at length be more closely 
united, and that our delights may not be deprived of a firm 
assurance. Why, chilled, have I passed so many forlorn 
nights f "Why, slothful swimmer, ait thou so often absent from 

pensnm.' This conjecture has the merit of ingenuity, but the Delphin 
Editor thinks, and apparently with justice, that there is no necessity for 
such an alteration, as the words, according to the common reading, may 
be very easily understood, as in lengthening out a thread it is usual to 
Let the spindle gradually descend till it touches the ground; after which 
it is wound up, and the same operation is repeated in constant succession. 

40 The beguiled night, '_ — Ver. 55. 'Decipere noctem,' means ' to be- 
guile,' or ' elude the night.' to get over the tedious hours by means of 
some employment. It has been suggested that the word ' deceptaV 
ought to be referred to Hero herself, as meaning, that having waited ah i 

for her lover, in the morning she found herself deceived or disappc: 
The word seems, however, better applied to the night itself, as in the 
other case it would imply a harshness ill-suited to the affectionate tone o: 
the letter. 

41 Ah, wretched mef] — Ver. 65. Heinsius says, apparently without any 
sound reason, that this and the following lines are probably spurious. 

42 thai we.~\ — Ver. 67. This wish is introduced with great pro- 
priety. Hero, after recounting her dreams and the short unsatis; a 
joys that ensued from them, could not conclude in a more natural way 
than by expressing her earnest wishes that these fleeting joys might soon 
be converted into real transports. 

p 2 



212 THE EPISTLES OP THE HEROINES, [EP. XIX. 

me ? The sea (I confess it) is not yet tractable for the swim- 
mer, but last night more gentle were the gales. Why has 
that 43 night passed by? Why didst thou not dread what 
might ensue ? Why did an opportunity so fair pass away, 
not seized by thee ? Though a like opportunity for passing 
over should at once be presented thee, that, at least, 44 was 
better than it, inasmuch as it was the first. But soon 45 the 
face of the troubled deep was changed ; often hast thou 
come over in a less time, when thou hast used speed. If de- 
tained here, 40 I think thou wouldst have no reason to com- 
plain ; and in my embraces no storms could hurt thee. At 
least, I could then listen unconcerned to the roaring winds, 
and I could pray that the waters might never be calm. 

But why has it happened that thou art more fearful of the 
waves 1 And why dost thou now fear the sea, which before 



13 Why has that.] — Ver. 73. Throughout the whole Epistle, Hero fully 
maintains the character which she has given herself at first, that of an 
ardent and anxious lover. She sedulously watches times and seasons, and 
complains if she is disappointed in what she may expect from them. As, 
the night hefore, the storm had somewhat ahated, she wonders that he 
did not take the opportunity of coining to her. 

44 That, at least.] — Ver. 76. Although she owns in the next verse that 
the storm was lulled only for a very short time, still she does not ascribe 
his staying away to that circumstance, but is rather apt to fear that his 
concern for her begins to diminish. We have here a faithful picture of ' 
the human heart, which, in proportion to the high value it sets on any 
object, is extremely apprehensive about losing it. The case is still more 
remarkable with lovers, whom the most trivial circumstances in life often 
fill with a thousand anxieties and alarms. 

45 But soon.] — Ver. 77. This is to be considered as an objection and 
excuse offered on the part of Leander ; as if Hero had said, ' I know you 
will plead that the cessation of the storm was short, and that, dreading this 
with reason, you were unwilling to venture,' She immediately replies, 
' Allow that you were afraid of the raging sea, yet why did you not come 
when it was calm ? The interval, though short, continued longer than 
you usually take to swim across.' This answer, rejecting Leander's ex- 
cuse, is happily imagined by the Poet ; for, however good his plea might 
be, yet passion ever pays but little regard to the voice of reason. 

4(5 Detained here.] — Ver. 79. Leander had already owned this in his 
letter ; but we are to consider it on both sides as only the language of 
thoughtless passion. Their chief concern was to conceal their passion 
from their parents ; and such an accident as this must of necessity have 
discovered all. It was not, however, to be expected that, at the height 
of their disappointment, they would be in such a frame of mind as to 
think of consequences. 



EP. XIX.] HEEO TO LEANDEE. 213 

thou didst despise? For I remember, when, on thy arrival, 
the sea was not less boisterous and threatening, or at least 
not much less, I exclaimed to thee, " Do thou be bold in 
such a manner that thy intrepidity may not have to be be- 
wailed by wretched me." Whence these 47 new fears 1 And 
whither has that boldness fled? Where is that notable 
swimmer who despised the waves ? Yet mayst thou rather 
be thus, than as thou wast wont to be before ; and mayst t^ou 
in safety make thy way through the becalmed sea ; provided 
only thou dost remain the same ; provided I am so loved as thou 
dost write that I am; and that thy flame proves not cold ashes. 
Not so much do I dread the winds that disappoint my wishes, 
as that thy affection, like the wind, should prove inconstant. 
I fear that I may not be held in such high esteem, and that 
the dangers may outweigh the occasion ; and that I may seem 
to be a reward too small for the labour. Sometimes I am 
afraid that I may be injured through my native place, and 
that I, a Thracian girl, 4s may be deemed unequal for an alli- 
ance in Abydos. 

47 Whence these."] — Ver. 89. Hero still discovers the height of her 
passion by her anxiety. That anxiety, too, is that of a lover, which 
magnifies every difficulty, and fills the breast with groundless fears. 
She knows well enough, that since his first corning, there has been no 
storm at all equal to the present* There is no cause then to wonder 
why his courage is abated, as it has never yet been put to a similar trial. 
Hero, thinking only of his long absence, will not allow herself to reflect 
upon the danger, but charges him with want of courage in not attempt- 
ing to do what is quite impossible. 

48 Thracian girl.'] — Ver. 100. Heinsius gives his opinion in favour of 
the reading ' Thressa,' instead of ' Sesta,' in this line. This is the more 
probable, inasmuch as we learn from history, that the Thracians were 
held in general contempt by the Greeks. Thus we learn, from Cornelius 
Nepos, that it was objected to Themistocles, that he was born of a Thra- 
cian mother. Athenseus also remarks, that Timotheus, the celebrated 
general, had for his mother a Thracian and a courtesan. Hence, too, in 
the Argonautics of Valerius Flaccus, Book hi., we find that Zethes and Calais 
are called by Jason, in a contemptuous manner, • Thracia proles :' ' The 
Thracian progeny.' We learn, too, from Diogenes Laertius, that it was 
made an objection to the philosopher Antisthenes, that he was born of a 
Thracian mother ; and in like manner, Demosthenes was censured as 
being the offspring of a Scythian female, A great part of the courtesans 
at Athens, as well as the female domestics, were Thracians by birth. The 
people of Abydos were likewise despised by the Greeks, and were made 
the subject of certain proverbs. 



214 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEEOIXES. [EP. XIX. 

Yet I am able to endure every thing with more patience, 
than if thou shouldst be taking thy ease captivated with 
some rival 49 I know not whom ; than if the arms of 
another should come around thy neck ; and than if a new 
love were the termination of thy passion for me. Oh ! rather 
might I perish, than be wounded by such criminality ; and 
may my doom happen before thy guilt. Not that I mention 
these things because thou hast given me symptoms of future 
grief ; or because I am alarmed by recent rumours. But I ap- 
prehend every thing ; (for who has loved 50 without anxieties ?) 
and locality compels those at a distance to be most in dread. 
Happy they, whose presence allows them to know of real 
faults, and forbids them to apprehend imaginary ones. 51 As 
much do unfounded injuries disturb us, as do injuries really 
committed escape our observation ; and each error begets 
equal affliction. 

0, would that thou wouldst come ! that either the winds or 
thy father, and no female, may be the cause of thy so long 52 
staying away ! But should I hear of any rival, believe me, I 
shall die of grief. Long time already hast thou been guilty, 
if thou art seeking my destruction. But thou wilt not be 
guilty, and in vain am I alarmed at these things ; and the 

49 Some rival.']^- Ver. 102. Jealousy is said to be inseparable from 
love, especially when, by reason of distance, the lovers are often obliged to 
be absent from each other. Ovid seldom fails to introduce symptoms of 
it in his Epistles ; but he generally, with some degree of partiality, de- 
picts it more strongly in those from the females. 

50 Who has loved.] — Ver. 109. If Hero is unable wholly to hide her 
suspicions from her lover, yet they are expressed in a manner so delicate, 
that it is next to impossible for him to take offence. She owns that he 
has never given her any cause for them, and that they are nothing more 
than those unavoidable disquiets which ever attend upon love. It would 
have been inconsistent with the Poet's object to introduce a jealousy 
fraught with sinister suspicions on either side. 

51 Imaginary ones.] — Ver. 112. There is no state of mind more un- 
easy than that of uncertainty, especially in cases where it highly concerns 
us to be resolved, and where, in consequence, there must necessarily be a 
great degree of impatience. The reflection, therefore, which Hero makes, 
is just ; and as she is herself in a state of great uncertainty, it comes from 
her with great propriety. 

52 Of thy so long.] — Ver. 116. ' Tantae' seems a preferable reading 
to ' certse,' though the signification here is much the same. 



EP. XIX.] s HERO TO LEANDEE. 215 

envious storm rages, in order that thou mayst not come. Ah, 
wretched me ! by what vast billows the shores are beaten ! 
and how the day is hidden, obscured by the darkening clouds'! 
Perhaps the affectionate mother 53 has come to the sea of 
Helle, and her daughter, who was drowned, is being bewailed 
in the streaming torrents. Or does her stepmother, 5i changed 
into a Goddess of the ocean, disturb the sea that was called 
by the hated name of her stepdaughter ? This spot, such as 
it now is, is not favourable for tender maids. In these waves 
did Helle perish ; by these waves am I crossed. 

But surely, Neptune, 55 no love ought to have been opposed 
by the winds through thee, if thou dost remember thy own 
flames ; if neither Amymone, 56 nor Tyro, 57 most celebrated 
for beauty, is a vain pretext for a charge against thee. The 
bright Halcyone, 58 too, acd the daughter of Circe and 

53 Affectionate mother. .] — Ver. 123. Hero supposes that the storm 
may haye been raised by Nephele, the mother of Helle, who had come 
down to lament the unhappy fate of her daughter. This, perhaps, was 
suggested by the mention of the clouds in the previous line, as well as the 
locality, ' Nephele' meaning, in Greek, * a cloud-* 

34 Her step-mother.'] — Ver. 126. Ino, who was afterwards changed 
into a sea Goddess, under the name of Leucothoe. 

55 Neptune.] — Ver. 129. Hero now addresses herself to Neptune, and 
expostulates with him for keeping Leander so long from her. She tells 
him that this -treatment was least of all to have been expected from him, 
who had himself so often been sensible of the power of love. She then 
mentions several damsels of whom the poets had represented Neptune as 
being enamoured. 

56 Jmymone.] — Ver. 131. Amymone was one of the fifty daughters 
of Danaus, who, with the exception of Hypermnestra, made themselves 
so notorious by the murder of their husbands. As she was hunting one 
day in a wood, being closely pursued by a Satyr, she implored the aid of 
Neptune, who came and rescued her ; but he was so enchanted with her 
beauty, that she soon afterwards proved pregnant by him, and, according to 
Strabo, became the mother of Nauplius. 

57 Nor Tyro.]— Ver. 132. We learn from Homer that Tyro was the 
daughter of Salmoneus, and that being in love with the river God Enipeus, 
Neptune deceived her under that form, on which she became the parent 
of the twins Neleus and Pelias. 

58 Halcyone.] — Ver. 133. Alcyone, or Halcyone, was one of the Plei- 
ades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione ; by Neptune she was the mother of 
Lycaon, Hyrieus, and Halcyone, the wife of Ceyx, whose story is tohi ia 
the Eleventh Book of the Metamorphoses. 



216 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOIKES. [EP. XIX. 

Alymon, 59 and Medusa, 60 with her locks not yet wreathed 
with serpents ; the yellow-haired Laodice, 61 too, and Celseno, 
received into the heavens, and others, whose names I remem- 
ber to have been read by me. The poets, at least, Neptune, 
sing how these and many others placed their delicate sides 
by thy own side. Why, then, dost thou, who hast so often ex- 
perienced the power of love, obstruct for us, with thy whirl- 
winds, the wonted path ? Forbear, stern Deity, and wage 
thy battles upon the wide ocean. These narrow waves merely 
divide two lands. It becomes thee either in thy might to 
buffet the mighty ships, or else to be hostile to whole fleets. 
It is a disgraceful thing for a God of the sea to alarm a 
youth that swims ; and such glory as that is unworthy of any 
common pond. Noble, indeed, is he, and illustrious is his 
birth ; but he does not derive his origin from Ulysses, who 
was suspected 62 by thee. 

59 Circe and Alymon.'] — Ver. 133. For the words ' Circeque et Aly- 
mone nata,' there are about forty different readings in the various MSS. 
The common reading is possibly the right one, in which case the daughter 
of Circe and Alymon, here referred to, will probably be Iphimedia, the 
wife of Alocus, who is mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey ; where he 
tells us that she was ravished by Neptune, and bore to him the giants 
Otus and Ephialtes, who grew nine inches in stature every month. 

60 Medusa.] — Ver, 134. Medusa, the daughter of Phorcus, was re- 
markable for the beauty of her hair. She was ravished by Neptune, in 
the temple of Minerva. Provoked at her seeming impiety, the Goddess 
changed her hair into serpents, and all that looked upon her into stones. 

61 Laodice.'] — Ver. 135. There were several Nymphs of this name 
mentioned by the ancient poets. One was the daughter of Priam and 
Hecuba, and the wife of Helicaon ; another, a daughter of Agamem- 
non and Clytemnestra, who was offered in marriage to Achilles ; while a 
third was the daughter of Cygnus. There was another Nymph of this 
name, the mother of Apis and Niobe. The daughter of Priam is pro- 
bably the person here alluded to. Celseno was a daughter of Atlas and 
Pleione, being one of the Pleiades, who formed the Constellation which 
the Romans called ' Vergilise.' 

02 Who was suspected.] — 148. "Ulysses was an object of the hatred of 
Neptune, as some said, because he had contrived the death of his grand- 
son, Palamedes, before Troy ; while, according to others, in consequence 
of Ulysses having thrust out the eye of his son, Polyphemus, in Sicily, he 
was retarded by Neptune on his return to his native country. We may 
here remark, that Ovid evidently intends to represent Hero and Leander 
as living after the fall of Troy ; Statius, however, makes them to have 
lived before the Theban war, as he mentions them in the description of 



EP. XIX.] HEEO TO LEANDEB. 217 

Show mercy, and preserve the two ; he only swims ; but 
od the same waves depend the body of Leander and my hopes. 
The lamp, too, crackles, 63 (for with it placed beside me, 64, 1 am 
writing) ; it crackles, and it gives me a propitious omen. See 1 
my nurse is pouring wine 65 upon the flames of favourable 
omen, and she says, " To-morrow we shall be more ;" and 
then she drinks. 66 Do make us to be more, gliding through 
the surmounted waves, thou that art so thoroughly im- 
pressed upon my heart. Return to thy camp, thou deserter 
of social Love. Why are my limbs extended in the middle 
of my couch ? There is nothing for thee to fear. Venus 
herself will favour the attempt ; and, born of the sea, fi? she will 
smooth the path over the sea. I myself am often prompted 
to pass over the boisterous waves, but this sea is wont to 
be more safe for the male sex. 6s For why, when Phryxus 

the garment which is given as a prize to Admetus, in the games celebrated 
at the tomb of Archemorus. 

63 Lamp, too, crackles.] — Ver. 151. The sputtering or crackling of the 
lamp is mentioned as being a good omen, in the 177th Epigram of the 
Seventh Book of the Gi-ecian Anthology. 

04 Placed beside me. ]— Ver. 151. Before oil lamps were invented, 
camlles made either of wax or tallow were universally used by the Ro- 
mans. The bulrush, called 'sen-pus,' was used for the wick. At a 
later period, candles were only used by the poorer classes. The lamps 
were mostly of an oval form, and flat upon the top, and were made of 
baked clay, or bronze. There were at the extremity of the lamp as 
many holes or nozzles as there were wicks in it. They were sometimes 
suspended by chains, but more frequently stood upon a stand, where statues 
sometimes held them. Perfumed oil was sometimes burnt. 

65 Is pouring wine.] — Ver. 154. This was done, perhaps, as a sort of 
libation, and with the view of making the lamp burn up more cheerfully. 

66 Then she drinks.] — Ver. 154. The nurse does not forget that very 
essential part of the ceremonial. Similarly with the old woman mentioned 
in the Fasti, Book II. 1. 571, when performing the rites of Tacita. 
4 Wine too she drops on it ; whatever of the wine is left, she either 
drinks it herself, or her attendants, yet she herself takes the greater part.' 

97 Born of the sea.] — Ver. 160. Hero is endeavouring to persuade her 
lover to shake off all fear, and to venture boldly. To encourage him, she 
reminds him that Venus is not only the Goddess of Love, and will there- 
fore be propitious to a chaste flame like theirs, but that also, as sprung 
from the sea, she may be accounted in some sense a Sea Goddess, and 
be supposed to have power over that element. 

6 * The male sex.] — Ver. 162. To make Leander the more sensible of 
her impatience and anxiety, she tells him that she herself is often ready 



218 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEKOTNES. [EP. XTX. 

and the sister of Phryxus were borne on this sea, did the 
female alone give a name to these tremendous waves ? 

Perhaps thou art afraid that opportunity may be wanting 
for thy return, or art unable to endure the weight of a re- 
doubled toil. Let us then, setting out from the opposite sides, 
meet in the midst 69 of the deep ; and let us give kisses on our 
meeting upon the surface of the waves ; and then let us each 
return again to our respective cities. That would be a small en- 
joyment, but still, better than none. Either could I wish that 
this shame, which forces us to love in secret, could give way, 
or that love, so apprehensive as to character, could yield ! 
Now, passion and propriety, things but badly united, are at 
variance. Which I should follow is a matter of doubt ; the 
one is proper, the other ministers to pleasure. When once 
Pagassean Jason 70 entered Colchis, he bore off the Phasian 
damsel placed on board the swift ship. When once the para- 
mour from Ida had come to Lacedeemon, he forthwith re- 
turned with his prize. Thou, so often as thou dost obtain the 
object which thou dost love, dost as often abandon her ; and 
ofr as it is dangerous for ships to proceed, thou dost swim. 

But still, youth, the conqueror of the boisterous waters, 
do thou take care and so despise the sea, as to have due caution. 
The ships, formed with art, are overpowered with the tem- 
pest ; dost thou suppose that thy arms can effect more than 
oars ? Whereas, Leander, thou dost wish to swim, the mariners 
dread it : 71 that is wont to be the catastrophe when the ves- 
sel is wrecked. Ah wretched me ! I wish not to persuade 

to rush into the waves, and is only kept back by reflecting how fatal that 
sea has been to her sex. 

69 In the midst, .] — Ver. 167. Nothing could have been more happily 
imagined than this passage, in order to give us a just idea of the tender 
affection with which Hero and Leander loved each other, or of the plea- 
sure that a real meeting must have afforded them. Who, after reading 
this, can wonder at the impatience which they express under the misfor- 
tune of separation ? 

70 Payasaan Jason.] — Ver. 175. Weary of her present state of doubt 
and uncertainty, and reflecting on her lover's danger whenever he visits 
her, she thinks it would be better for her if she should suffer from 
Leander the treatment which Medea did from Jason, and Helen from 
Paris, in being carried away. 

71 Mariners dread it.] — Ver. 185.*' It is a curious fact, that by far the 
greater part of the seafaring class are unable to swim. 



EP. XIX.] HERO TO LEAJNDEE. 219 

thee that to do which I entreat thee ; and mayst thou thyself, 
I pray, be bolder than my precepts ; only do thou come, and 
do thou throw thy wearied arms, so oft impelled through the 
waves, around my shoulders. 

But, oft as I turn my view to the azure waves, I know 
not what chill possesses my heaving breast. Not less am 
I disturbed by the vision of last night, although it has been 
expiated by rites performed by me. For, towards dawn, 
the lamp now nickering, (at the time 72 when true visions 
are wont to be seen) the threads fell from my fingers deadened 
with sleep, and I laid my neck to be supported on a 
pillow. 73 Here did I seem to myself, with reality beyond 
mistake, to see a dolphin swimming over the waves tossed by 
the winds ; after the billows had dashed it on the soaking 
sands, at the same moment, the waters and its life abandoned 
it. "Whatever that means, I dread it ; and do not thou laugh 
at my visions, nor trust thy arms but to an untroubled sea, 
If thou art regardless of thyself, be regardful of thy much- 
loved mistress ; who will never be unhurt, 74 but while thou art 
uninjured. 

Still, I have some hope of an ensuing calm for the subdued 
waves ; then, with breast free from peril, cleave the tranquil 
path. Meantime, since the deep is not to be passed by one 
swimming, let this letter that is sent soothe the hateful delay; 

72 At the time."] — Ver. 196. Apollonius Tyanaeus, in his Life of Phi- 
lostratus, tells us that the interpreters of dreams made it always their 
first question, at what hour the vision appeared ; for, if it was towards 
morning, they conjectured that the dream was true, hecause at that time 
the soul is quite disengaged from the vapours of wine and food. Horace, 
in his Tenth Satire, Book i., alludes to the same belief. Theocritus, also, 
in the Idyll called ' Europa,' which some ascribe to Moschus, marks dis- 
tinctly the time of night when dreams are true. ' Venus sent an agre- 
able dream to Europa, when the third watch of the night had almost 
elapsed, and Aurora was approaching/ A few verses after, be adds, 
' About the time that the troop of real visions hovers round those who are 
still in the arms of sleep.' 

73 On a pillow.] — Ver. 198. Davison thus translates this line, ' And 
my neck was gently reclined on the ban-en ridge.' ' Pulvinus' is cer- 
tainly sometimes ' a heap of sand and stones as a foundation for a pillar,' 
and in one instance it means ' a sand bank' ; but how he came to mistake 
here what so obviously means ' a pillow,' it is difficult to conceive. 

74 Be unhurt.] — Ver. 206. When she beheld his dead body floating 
below, she threw herself from the tower, and was drowned. 



220 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XX. 

EPISTLE XX. 

ACONTIUS TO CYDIPPE. 

Delos was an island in the iEgean sea, the most celebrated of the Cy- 
clades. The Goddess Diana had a temple there, in which she was 
worshipped with great pomp. A youth named Acontius, being present 
at the celebration of these rites, beheld Cydippe there, and became 
deeply enamoured of her. Not daring to make known his passion to 
her, and fearing a. repulse, he devised a novel stratagem, and taking 
the most beautiful apple he could procure, he wrote upon it the two 
following verses ■ 

* Juro tibi sane, permystica sacra Dianse, 
Me tibi venturum comitem, sponsamque futuram.' 

' I swear to thee inviolably, by the mystic rites of Diana, that I will join 
myself to thee as thy companion and will be thy bride.' Having done 
this, he threw it at the foot of the damsel, who not suspecting the de- 
vice, took it up and read it, and thereby undesignedly devoted herself 
to Acontius ; as there was at that time a law in force at Delos, that 
whatever any person should swear in the temple of Diana should be 
performed and inviolably observed. Her father (not knowing what 
had happened), having some time after promised her to another, she 
was suddenly seized with a violent fever, at the time when the marriage 
solemnities Avere about to be performed. Acontius hearing of this, 
and still retaining some hopes of success, is supposed to -write the 
present Epistle to Cydippe, in which he endeavours to persuade her 
that the fever has been sent by Diana, as a punishment for the breach 
of the vow made in her presence. These representations are enforced 
by the various arguments that would be likely, on such an occasion, to 
occur to a lover. 

Receive, Cydippe, 75 the name of the despised Acontius ; of 
him who, by means of the apple, deceived thee. Lay aside 76 

75 Receive, Cydippe.'] — The first two lines are — 

' Accipe, Cydippe, despecti nomen Aconti, 
Illius, in porno qui tibi verba dedit.' 

They are generally considered to be spurious. We may here remark, that 
in the Tenth Epistle of his First Book, Aristsenetus tells this story in a 
very pleasing manner. Callimachus also depicted the love of Acontius for 
Cydippe in one of his poems, which is now lost. Antoninus Liberalis tells a 
similar story in his first book, respecting Ctesilla and Hermocharus. Bur- 
mann and Ruhnken think that this and the following Epistle were not 
written by Ovid. Scaliger attributes the authorship of them to Sabinus. 

76 Lay aside. - ] — Ver. 1. Heinsius observes of this Epistle, that it has 
suffered more, perhaps, than any other from the carelessness and incor- 
rectness of transcribers ; and that in many places it is so defaced, that we 
are at a loss how to gather any consistent sense. 



EP. XX.] ACONTIUS TO CTDIPPE. 221 

thy fears ; nothing shalt thou swear here again 77 in favour of 
thy lover : 'tis enough that thou hast once been promised to 
me. Read this through ; then may thy malady, which, when 
any part of thee 78 is in pain, is my pain as well, depart from 
that body of thine. Why do blushes arise on thy cheeks ? 
For, as in the temple of Diana, I fancy that thy modest features 
turn red. I ask for thy alliance and thy plighted faith, and 
nothing criminal ; as thy lawful husband do I love thee, not 
as an adulterer. 

Shouldst thou repeat the words, which, the fruit taken from 
off the tree, when I threw it, bore to thy chaste hands, thou 
wilt find that thou dost there promise that which I desire 79 
thyself, maiden, rather than the Goddess to bear in mind. Now, 
too, do I apprehend this latter thing ; but still does this latter 
alternative increase my ardour, and the flame augments 
by delay ; the passion, too, that never was small, is now 
increased by length of time, and the hopes which thou 
hadst given me. Hopes didst thou give me ; this passion of 
mine put trust in thee ; thou canst not deny that this took 
place, a Goddess the witness. She was present, and in per- 
son she marked thy words just as they were ; and shaking her 
locks, she seemed to approve of thy sayings. Thou mayst be 
enabled to say that thou wast deceived by my stratagem ; so 

77 Swear here again.'] — Ver. 1. As Acontius has already deceived 
Cydippe, she may possibly be apprehensive of some new fraud, and, 
having that notion, refuse to read the letter. Acontius endeavours to 
prevent this, by assuring her that he has no further intentions of that 
kind ; and that, satisfied with having once obtained her promise, he means 
no more than to remind her of her engagement, and to give her such 
advice as may lead to her recovery. 

7B Any part of thee. ~] — Ver. 4. If Acontius has been the cause of any 
disaster to Cydippe, he wishes to persuade her that he has been so purely 
from accident. His intention was no more than to secure her to himself; 
and her own disregard of her vow has occasioned that illness, of which 
he has suffered all the anguish in the most sensible manner. 

79 Which I desire.] — Ver. 11. After ' quod opto,' some of the MSS. 
insert the two following hues : 

' Ni tibi cum verbis excidit ilia fides. 
Id metui, ut Diva? diffusa est ira ; decebat.' 

' Unless that promise of thine has passed away with the words, as 

soon as read. This did I fear, when the wrath of the Goddess was 

poured forth. It befitted thee, maiden, to bear it in mind rather than 

the Goddess.' Some editions adopt these lines in the text. 



222 " THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [ep. XX. 

long as love is said to have been the cause of 80 my stra- 
tagem. 

What was the object of my artifice, but that I might be 
united to thee alone ? That, of which 81 thou dost complain, 
ought to recommend me. I am not so cunning by nature, nor 
yet from long practice ; 'tis thou, dear girl, believe me, that didst 
make me so inventive. 'Twas Love, 82 fertile in expedients, that 
bound thee to me, by the words put together by me, if, indeed, 
I have effected aught. In words dictated by him did I com- 
pose the marriage contract j 83 and by the advice of Love did I 
become skilled in the law. Let fraud be the name of this de- 
vice, and let me called deceitful, (if indeed 84 it is deceit, to 
wish to possess what you love). Lo ! a second time 85 do I write 
and send the words of entreaty ; this is a second fraud, and 
thou hast reason to complain. If I offend in that I love, 

80 Been the cause of.~] — Ver. 22. Acontius seems here to accuse him- 
self, but with considerable cunning and art. He has discovered a method 
of owning his crime in such a manner as to give it rather the air of a 
merit. It was excess of love that hurried him on to that bold step. A fault 
arising from this can plead many circumstances to alleviate it ; and the 
person against whom it is committed is usually the first to forgive it. 

S1 That of which.'] — Ver. 24. Heinsius remarks severely ou this line, 
and is so displeased with it, that he rejects the couplet as utterly un- 
worthy of Ovid. 

82 'Twas Love.] — Ver. 28. The reader cannot fail to be struck with 
the ingenious manner in which Acontius excuses his fraud, by throwing 
the blame entirely upon love. He asserts that he has neither a natural 
turn for expedients of this kind, nor an aptness produced by use and 
practice. This assertion is extremely well calculated to gain on Cydippe, 
as it speaks a passion strong and lasting, and at the same time insinuates 
that she has been the first to make an impression on his heart. 

83 Marriage contract.] — Ver. 29. Among the Romans the ' sponsalia' 
was a contract made between a man and woman, in such a form as to give 
each party a right of action in case of non-performance. Instead of the 
woman, however, the person who betrothed her was a party to the 
contract. 

84 If indeed.] — Ver. 32. This reflection, thrown out after owning his 
fraud, quite effaces that idea, and leads us insensibly to excuse a step for 
which he alleges so plausible an excuse. 

S5 A second time.] — Ver. 33. It is worth while to observe with how 
much artifice and ingenuity Acontius blends his former fraud of the in- 
scription on the apple, with this latter one of writing her a love Epistle, 
and in each case throws the blame entirely upon the person and attractive 
charms of Cydippe. By this he means to insinuate, that, as in the latter 
instance, there is nothing really criminal, so, in like manner, it ought to 
inferred, that the former was equally harmless. 



EP. XX.] ACONTIUS TO CTDIPPE. 223 

I confess, I shall offend without end ; and thee shall I seek, 
even shouldst thou thyself take precautions not to be found. 
Amid swords have others borne off the maidens that pleased 
them, and shall a few letters written by me, with design, be 
a crime ? that the Gods would grant S6 that I might be 
enabled to find many other ties ! so that thy plighted troth 
might remain at liberty in no degree. A thousand stratagems 
are left : at the bottom of the hill am I perspiring ; my pas- 
sion will allow nothing to be untried. 

Itmay be uncertain whether thou canst be won; assuredly thou 
shalt be attempted to be won ; the event is with the Gods ; but 
still shalt thou be won. Though thou shouldst avoid apart, thou 
shalt not escape the whole of the toils, which Love has extended 
for thee, more in number than thou dost think for. If arti- 
fice is of no avail, to force will 1 87 resort ; and, carried off, thou 
shalt be borne in the bosom that is so eager for thee. I am 
not one who is wont to blame the deeds 88 of Paris ; nor of 
any one, indeed, who, that he might be enabled to become a 
husband, 89 has proved himself a man. I also will — but 

88 Gods would grant.'] — Ver. 39. It may at first appear somewhat 
strange that Acontius, who has just before owned his crime, and endea- 
voured to alleviate it by reason of the circumstances in which he found him- 
self, should suddenly so far change his mind as to avow it openly, and pro- 
fess his readiness to repeat it a thousand times, did the case admit. But, as 
we have already remarked, he has by the ingenious turn he gives it, en- 
deavoured to make it appear rather as a merit. It is therefore well-judged, 
after this, to boast rather of an action that, as he avers, bespeaks the 
strength of his passion, and to avow that far from repenting of it, he is 
ready to repeat it, in order to give a fresh testimony of his continued 
and unalterable love. He has already bound her by one tie ; and so earnest 
is he to secure her to himself, that were it possible to bind her by a thou- 
sand more, he would gladly take that method to prevent a possibility of 
losing her. 

87 To force will I.] — Ver. 47. From a remark in the 47th Chapter of 
Petronius Arbiter, we find that ' sudare in clivo,' was a common proverb 
among the Romans, used to describe a difficulty which it required great 
pains to surmount. 

88 Blame the deeds.] — Ver. 49. Acontius makes this remark, to show 
that his resolution is fixed and unalterable, and that he is not to be de- 
terred by any sense of danger. His temper naturally makes him incline 
to soft and gentle measures ; but if these are not successful, he wants not 
courage to take an effectual course. His disposition does not lead him 
to blame either Paris or Theseus ; and even a certainty that death must 
be the consequence, will not shake his resolution. 

60 A husband.]— Ver. 50. The word ' vir' has the two significations of 



224 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XX. 

I am silent. Though death should be the reward of this vio- 
lence, it will be a less punishment than not to have possessed 
thee. Or, hadst thou been less beauteous, thou mightst be 
sought with moderation ; by thy very beauty am I forced to 
be audacious. 

This dost thou 90 effect, and thy eyes, to which the burning 
stars yield, those eyes, which were the cause of my flames. 
This do thy yellow locks and thy ivory neck effect ; those 
hands too, which I trust, may meet around my neck. Thy 
gracefulness too, and thy features, modest without coyness, 
and thy feet, such 91 as I can hardly believe Thetis to possess. 
Were I able to commend the rest, I should be more happy ; 
and I question not but that the whole frame is uniform in 
itself. Impelled by these charms, 'tis not to be wondered at, 
if I wished to have a pledge from thy own lips. In fine, since 
thou art compelled to confess that thou hast been deceived, 
prove thyself a damsel deceived 92 by my device. I will endure 
the obloquy; let his reward be given to him who submits to it. 
Why is its reward withheld from a crime so great ? Telamon 
took Hesione, 93 Achilles, the daughter of Brises ; each con- 
quered damsel attended her conqueror. 

Thou mayst accuse me as much as thou shalt please, and 
mayst be enraged ; only let it be granted me to be able to obtain 
thee thus enraged. I, the same person who causes this anger, 

' husband,' and t man.' Ovid here plays upon it ; the word ' vir ' being 
understood after ' fuit '; ' who, that he might be a husband, has proved 
himself a man.' 

90 This dost thou.'] — Ver. 55. He studiously softens what he says, by 
giving it such a turn as is most likely to make it agreable to his mis- 
tress. Cydippe can scarcely refuse to forgive a fault that took its rise 
in admiration of her charms. Flattery is one of the methods too often 
used for promoting our advances with the fair sex, and it is very often 
crowned with an ill-deserved success. 

91 Thy feet such.]— Ver. 60. We may take it for granted that Thetis 
was noted for the whiteness of her feet, inasmuch as Homer gives her the 
epithet of dpyvpoireZa, 'the silver-footed' Goddess. 

92 A damsel deceived.] — Ver. 66. Ovid here falls into his usual failing 
of playing upon words, whenever he has the opportunity. ' Capta ' may 
mean either ' deceived,' or ' obligated,' according to the context. Cydippe 
would readily own that she had been deceived, and would complain of it 
as an injury. 

93 Took Hesione.] — Ver. 69. Hercules, after punishing Laomedon for 
his. perfidy, gave his daughter Hesione to his friend Telamon. 



EP. XX.] ACONTHJS TO CYD1PPE. 225 

will appease it when caused ; only let me have a little oppor- 
tunity of soothing thee. Let me stand weeping before thy 
face, and let me add words to their appropriate tears ; and as 
slaves are wont, when they dread the cruel lash, allow me to 
stretch my hands in supplication to thy feet. Thou art ignorant 
of thy rights; 94 call me; why, thus absent, am I accused 1 Com- 
mand me to come, in the manner of one who has long been 
my mistress. Though tyrannically thou shouldst tear my 
locks, and my features should be made livid with thy fingers, 
all this will I endure ; perhaps I shall only be fearful lest 
those hands of thine should be hurt by my body. But secure 
me neither with fetters nor with chains ; bound by constant 
affection for thee I shall be retained. 

When thy wrath shall have quite expended itself, and as much 
as it shall wish, thou wilt say to thyself, " How patiently 
does he love !" When thou shalt see me enduring everything, 
thou wilt say to thyself, " He who serves so well, still let him 
serve me/' Now, to my sorrow, I am condemned in my ab- 
sence ; and my cause, though it is most just, fails, no one 
defending it. And let this* 5 writing of mine, as is proper to be 
done, be an injury on my part ; thou hast reason then to com- 
plain of me alone. The Delian Goddess ought not to be de- 
ceived, 96 as well, with me ; if thou dost not wish to perform thy 
promise for me, perform it for the Goddess. She was present, 
and she saw when thou, deceived, didst blush ; and with te- 
nacious ear, she treasured up thy words. Let omens fail of 
being realized ; nothing is more infuriate than she, when, as 
I wish she may not, she beholds her divine power set at 
nought. 

94 Of thy rights.'] — Ver. 79. Acontius professes himself to be her 
slave, and is willing to submit to all that can be exacted of one in that 
position ; but he seems to insinuate at the same time, that she uses him with 
more rigour than is commonly used, even towards the very lowest of that ill- 
treated class. He complains that she will not allow him to plead his own 
cause, but condemns him without a hearing. 

95 And let this.} — Ver. 93. Heinsius is so dissatisfied with the cor- 
rupt state of this and the following line, that he is inclined to reject the 
distich altogether. 

96 To be deceived.'] — Ver. 95. ' Fallere Deos,' ' to deceive the Gods,' 
was a common way of speaking among the Romans, when they wished to 
express the neglect of a vow made to any of the Divinities; 

Q 



226 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEEOINES. [EP. XX. 

The boar of Calydon 97 shall be my witness ; for we know 
how a mother was found more savage than it towards her 
child. 98 Actaeon, too, 99 is a witness, who was once believed 
to be a wild beast by those hounds with which before he pur- 
sued the wild beasts to the death. The vain-glorious mother, 
too, who even now exists, as she weeps in the Mygdonian 
land, 1 the rock growing over her body. Alas! Cydippe! I dread 
to tell thee the truth, lest I should appear to be admonishing 
thee falsely for my own sake. Still, speak I must ; it is on 
this account, believe me, that thus often thou art lying ill at 
the time for thy nuptials. She herself has a care for thee ; 
she is striving that thou mayst not prove perjured ; and she 
desires thee to be safe, thy oath being unbroken. Thence 
it arises, that as often as thou dost attempt to prove perfidious, 
so often does she correct thy guiltiness. Cease to provoke the 
hostile bow of the implacable Virgin ; still may she become 
softened, if thou wilt permit her. 

Forbear, I pray, to enfeeble thy tender limbs with fevers ; 
let that form be preserved to be enjoyed by me ; let those 
features be preserved that were produced for the purpose of 
inflaming me ; those lively blushes, too, that are upon thy 
snow-white complexion. If any one of my enemies should 
strive that thou mayst not be mine, then may he be, as, when 
thou art ill, it is wont to be with me. Whether thou dost 
wed another, or whether thou art ill, I am equally tortured ; 
nor can I say myself which I would the least desire. Some- 
times I am distracted, because I am the cause of thy being 

97 Boar of Calydon."] — Ver. 101.- The story of the Calydonian hoar 
which was sent by Diana, is told in the Eighth Book of the Metamor- 
phoses. 

9S Towards her child.'] — Ver. 102. Heinsius inveighs much against 
this passage, which he thinks has been inserted by some Scholiast, who, 
having added the instance of the Calydonian boar to those of Niobe and 
Actaeon, might perhaps turn it into a distich, and afterwards, in tran- 
scribing, insert it in the text ; Lennep, however, thinks it to be genuine. 

99 Actaeon, too.] — Ver. 103. The sad fate of Actaeon is related in the 
Third Book of the Metamorphoses. 

1 Mygdonian land.] — Ver. 106. Mygdonia was properly a portion of 
Macedonia, between the rivers Axius and Strymon. Lydia, in Asia 
Minor, is supposed to have received a colony from Mygdonia, and is here 
called by the epithet Mygdonia. The story of Niobe, which is here re- 
ferred to, is related in the Sixth Book of the Metamorphoses. 



EP. XX.] ACONTIUS TO CYDIPPE. 227 

in pain ; and I reflect that through my cunning thou art 
afflicted. May the perjuries of my mistress, I pray, fall upon 
this head 2 of mine; let her be safe from a punishment that 
is my due. Still, that I may not be ignorant how thou 
dost fare, many a time, in my anxiety, do 1 go secretly to thy 
threshold, to and fro. Stealthily do I follow after some hand- 
maid or servant, enquiring what sleep or what nourishment 
has refreshed thee. 

Ah wretched me ! that I do not administer the prescrip- 
tions of the physicians, and chafe thy hands, 3 and press upon 
thy couch. And again, ah wretched me ! that, myself removed 
far thence, perhaps another, one whom I could far from 
wish, is there. He chafes those hands of thine, and sits by 
thee in thy illness, hated by the Gods above, and, with the 
Gods above, by myself. And while with his thumb he feels the 
throbbing pulse, 4 on this pretence he often grasps thy fair 
arms ; and he touches thy bosom, and perhaps gives thee 
kisses ; too ample for his services is that reward. 

" Who has given thee leave to reap my harvest beforehand ? 
Who has granted thee a path to the boundaries of another ? 
That bosom is mine ; basely dost thou usurp kisses that are 
mine ; keep thy hands off the body that is promised to me. 
Wretch ! keep off thy hands ; she whom thou art touching 
is to be mine ; if thou shouldst do this again, thou wilt be 
an adulterer. Choose from among those disengaged one that 
another may not claim for himself ; if thou knowest it not, 
this property has its owner. And do not trust me ; let the 
form of her engagement be read over ; and that thou mayst 
not say it is false, make herself repeat it. To thee I say, 
to thee, depart from the nuptial chamber of another man. 
What art thou doing here ? Begone, this bed is not disengaged. 
For, although thou, too, hast another form of an engagement 
sanctioned by man, still thy cause will not for that reason be 
equal to my own. To me did she bind herself ; to thee did 
her father promise her, the next after herself ; but surely she 

2 Upon this head.'] — Ver 127. This was an imprecation much in use 
among the Greeks. 

3 Chafe thy hands.]— Ver. 134. ' Effingo ' means ' to press gently,' pro- 
bably ' to chafe.' 

4 Throbbing pulse.] — Ver. 139. The feeling cf her pulse and other 
minute circumstances are very naturally described. 

Q2 



228 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XX. 

herself is one degree nearer to herself than is her father. 
Her father has promised hers, he has vowed herself to her 
lover ; he called men to witness, she appealed to the testimony 
of a Goddess. He fears to be called a deceiver, she, to be 
called perjured. Canst thou question whether this or that is 
the more substantial fear ? In fine, that thou mayst be able 
to compare the dangers of both, look at the results ; she 
keeps her bed, while he is well. 5 We are entering the lists, too, 
with unequal feelings ; neither have we equal hopes, nor yet 
equal fears. Thou art wooing without fear for the result ; a 
repulse is more insupportable than death to me. And that 
object I am now in love with, which thou, perhaps, wilt love 
at a future time. If thou hadst any regard for justice, if any 
for propriety, at least thou thyself wouldst have given way 
to my passion." 

Now, since he inhumanly contends for an unjust claim, to 
what, Cydippe, does my letter tend? He is causing thee to lie in 
sickness, and to be suspected by Diana : if thou wast wise, thou 
wouldst forbid him to approach thy threshold. While he does 
this, thou art undergoing so severe a struggle for thy life ; 
and I wish that he who causes it may perish instead of thee. 
Shouldst thou reject him, and not love one whom the Goddess 
condemns ; instantly thou wouldst recover, and doubtless I 
should be healed. Banish thy fears, maiden, thou shalt enjoy 
established health ; only take care and venerate the temple 6 
that was conscious of thy engagement. The powers of heaven re- 
joice not in the slaughtered ox, but in the faith which even with- 
out a witness to be kept. Let others endure iron and fire to 
recover health ; to others the bitter potions give an unpleasant 
relief. Of these thou hast no need ; only avoid the guilt of 
perjury, and preserve at the same moment thyself, and me, 
and thy plighted vows. The being unaware will give thee 
pardon for thy past faults ; the agreement read by thee may 
have escaped thy recollection, 7 

5 He is well"] — Ver. 164. This argument is more specious than good. 
There was no reason for her father incurring the wrath of the Divinities ; 
for so far, he had adhered to his promise made in betrothing her. 

6 Venerate the temple.'] — Ver. 180. He is chiefly anxious that Cydippe 
shall not forget her vow. He is therefore very properly represented as 
admonishing her to repair frequently to the temple, that being the most 
likely method of reminding her of her obligation. 

1 Escaped thy recollection.] — Ver. 188. This is artfully introduced 



EP. XX.] ACOKTIUS TO CYDIPPE. 229 

Now art thou put in mind by my words, now by these 
toils; 8 which, so oft as thou dost endeavour to escape them, 
thou art wont to carry together with thyself. Even on these 
being avoided, still, in child-birth thou wilt have to entreat 
her to extend to thee the hands that give the light. 9 She will 
hearken to thee; and calling to mind what has been heard, she 
will enquire by what husband thy travail is occasioned. Then 
wilt thou be making vows ; she knows that thou dost make false 
promises ; then wilt thou be swearing ; she knows that thou art 
capable of deceiving the Deities. I am not concerned for 
myself ; by greater cares am I harassed ; my breast is anxious 
on account of thy life. Why now are thy trembling parents 
lamenting thee in this doubtful state, whom thou dost cause to 
be in ignorance of thy transgression ? And why should they 
be in ignorance ? Thou shouldst disclose every thing to thy 
mother. Thy actions, Cydippe, have nothing for thee to be 
ashamed of. 

Take care and state in order how thou wast first known 
to me, while thou wast 10 performing the rites of the quivered 
Goddess ; how, on beholding thee, suddenly (if perchance 
thou didst observe it) I stood with my gaze fixed upon thy 

by Acontius, who must be aware that a promise of this kind is not likely 
to slip out of Cydippe's memory. It is however, his interest to suppose 
it, because, by furnishing her with this excuse, he gives her a fairer 
opportunity of owning that she has before been in the wrong, in neg- 
lecting a promise so solemnly made in the presence of the Goddess. 

8 By these toils.] — Ver. 189. The word ' cassibus' signifies ' nets' or 
' toils '; but some of the editions have ' casibus,' ' misfortunes,' in its place. 
The former is, perhaps, the correct reading, as both Ovid and Tibullus 
use the words ' cassis' in subjects relating to love. Heinsius and Bur- 
mann approve of 'cassibus,' while Lennep and Amor prefer 'casibus' 
The word evidently alludes to the sickness by which Diana had endea- 
voured to prevent Cydippe from incurring the guilt of perjury. 

9 Give tJie light.'] — Ver. 192. Women, in childbirth, invoked Diana 
Lucina, who was supposed peculiarly to have the charge of them, and to 
assist in bringing the child to light. Hence the Poet gives the title of 
' luciferas' to her hands. 

10 While thou ivast.] — Ver. 204. ' Dum facit ipsa' seems more likely 
to be the true reading than ' dum facis ipsa.' ' While she (your mother) 
was performing the rites.' For we learn from the Epistle of Cydippe, 
that she and her nurse were walking about and viewing the remarkable 
things in the place, while her mother was performing the sacrifice ; and 
that while she was so walking, the apple fell at her feet. 



230 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEBOLNES. [EP. XX. 

limbs ; how, while I was admiring thee too much, a sure 
sign of my distraction, my cloak 11 slipped and fell from off my 
shoulders. How, afterwards an apple came rolling, whence I 
know not, bearing in skilful characters the ensnaring words ; 
how, because this was read in the presence of the holy Diana, thy 
faith was pledged, a Divinity the witness. But that she may 
not be ignorant what was the meaning of the inscription, 
repeat now as well the words once read by thee. She will 
say, I trust, " Marry him to whom the gracious Deities unite 
thee ; let him be my son-in-law who thou hast sworn shall so 
be. Whoever he is, let him be agreable to me ; since he has 
already proved agreable to Diana. Such will thy mother 
prove, if only she shall prove a mother. 

But still do thou bid her, too, enquire who and what I am ; 
she will find that the Goddess has been considerate for thee. 
An island, Cea 12 by name, once very much ennobled by the 
Corycian 13 Nymphs, is encircled by the iEgean sea. That is 
my native land ; and if thou hast any esteem for noble names, 
I am not said to be descended from despicable ancestors. I 
have also riches ; my morals, too, are without reproach ; and, 

11 My cloak.] — Ver. 208. Though commonly translated by the word 
' cloak,' the ' pallium' of the ancients differed very materially from that 
article of dress. It was a square piece of cloth which came direct from 
the loom in that shape, and did not require any forming or cutting out 
by the tailor. The ' pallia ' were mostly worn in an undyed state, con- 
sequently white, brown, and grey were the prevailing colours. They 
were sometimes dyed of crimson, purple, and satfron colour. Some- 
times they were striped, and they then resembled our checks or plaids. 
Flowers were sometimes interwoven, and occasionally with gold thread. 
Wool was the most common material. They were not only used for 
wearing, but also for spreading over beds and couches, and for covering 
the body during sleep ; in fact, the word 'pallium' as often means a coverlet 
as a garment. Sometimes they were used as carpets, and sometimes as 
awnings or curtains. When worn, it was passed over the left shoul- 
der, then drawn behind the back and under the right arm, leaving it bare, 
and then thrown again over the left shoulder. For a very full account of 
the ' pallium,' see Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. 

12 An island, Cea.~\ — Ver. 222. Cea, or Ceos, was an island of the 
^Egean Sea, near Eubcea. 

13 Corycian.] — Ver. 221. The Muses are so called from Corycus, the 
name of a cave on Mount Parnassus. The reading is probably cor- 
rupt, as it is not known that there was any particular relation between 
the Muses and the island of Cea, 



EP. XXI.] CYDIPPE TO ACONTITTS. 231 

though there "were nothing more, affection unites me to thy- 
self. Even hadst thou not made the vow, thou mightst have 
longed for such a husband ; such a one had been acceptable, 
even if thou hadst not made the vow. These words in my sleep 
did Phoebe, who hurls the javelin, bid me write to thee ; these 
words did Love bid me, while awake, to write to thee. Our 
welfare is united ; have compassion both on me and on thy- 
self. Why dost thou hesitate to give one relief for us both? 

And if it should fall to my lot, when now the appointed 
signal 14 shall sound, and Delos shall be stained with votive 
blood; a golden likeness of the lucky apple shall be erected, 
and the reason shall be inscribed in these two lines ; " Acon- 
tius declares, by the resemblance of this apple, that what was 
written upon it was performed." 

That too long an Epistle may not harass thy weakened 
frame, and that it may be closed for thee with the usual con- 
clusion — Farewell. 

EPISTLE XXI. 

CYDIPPE TO ACONTIUS. 

Having received the foregoing Epistle from Acontius, and on perusing it, 
finding reason to suspect that her present illness has proceeded from 
the resentment of Diana at her broken vow, Cydippe is inclined to 
yield to the wishes of Acontius, even against the will of her parents, 
ra'ther than continue under her present affliction. She begins by pro- 
fessing her unwillingness to be too free in acquainting him with her sen- 
timents, lest, as before, in the case of the apple, she may insensibly 
enter into a new engagement. After this, she takes the opportunity 
of mentioning her first arrival at Delos, and the manner in which she 
was ensnared by the contrivance of her lover ; and her narrative is 
beautified by its circumstantial relation, and the justice of her re- 
flections. Towards the conclusion of the Epistle, after inveighing 
against his treachery, she gradually softens to compliance, and shows 
concern to remove his suspicions and the jealousy which he entertains 
against his rival. In conclusion, she gives her consent, and ends with 
a hope that the nuptials may be celebrated immediately. 

Thy letter 15 has come as usual, Acontius, and had almost 
betrayed my eyes. 

14 Appointed signal.] — Ver. 235. People were summoned to the sa- 
crifice by the sound of the trumpet ; it was performed to the music of 
the pipe and other instruments. 

15 Thy letter.'] — These two lines, 

• Litera pervenit tua, quo consuevit, Aconti, 
Et pene est oculis insidiata meis ? 



232 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XXI. 

I was much alarmed, and without a murmur 16 did I read 
thy writing, lest unconsciously my tongue might swear by 
some Divinities. And I think thou wouldst again have en- 
snared me, 17 unless, as thou thyself dost confess, thou didst 
know that it was enough for me once to have been promised. 
Nor would I have read it ; but, if I had proved obdurate to 
thee, perhaps the wrath of the cruel Goddess would have 
been increased. Though I do every thing, though I offer 
pious frankincense to Diana, still does she favour thee in more 
than an ordinary degree ; and as thou dost wish it to be 
supposed, she avenges thee with resentful anger. 

Hardly did she prove such towards her own Hippolytus. 13 
But with more propriety would she, a virgin, have proved kind 
to the years of a virgin ; which, I fear, she wishes to be of 
but short duration for me. 19 For my illness continues, while 
the cause is not perceptible ; and, in my exhaustion, I am 
refreshed by no aid of the physician. Canst thou believe 
how, thin as I am, I can hardly write this to thee, and how 
I can hardly rest on my elbow my wearied limbs? To this 
are added my apprehensions lest any one but my nurse, my 
confidant, should know that we have an interchange of cor- 
respondence. Before the door is she seated ; and, that I 
may be enabled to write in safety, to those who enquire what 

are found in some of the MSS., but are generally considered to be spu- 
rious. Indeed, the last line seems to contradict the next, which usually 
commences the Epistle, and in which she says that she has read his letter. 

16 Without a murmur.'] — Ver. 1. That is, in perfect silence, without 
so much as a whisper ; as she fears that she may commit another error, and 
unadvisedly contract some fresh engagement. 

17 Have ensnared me.] — Ver. 3. Cydippe has reason to form this 
conclusion, from the earnestness which he has shown in his letter to 
secure her. He even says himself, expressly, that had it been possible to 
secure her by yet stronger ties, no means would have been left untried by 
him. 

18 Her own Hippolytus.] — Ver. 10. Hippolytus was dear to Diana, 
by reason of his extreme chastity and his fondness for the chase. 

19 For me.] — Ver. 12. We may here remark, that in all the MSS., 
with the exception of three, there is a deficiency of the rest of this 
Epistle. Many of the critics are therefore of opinion, that the verses 
which follow this line are not the composition of Ovid, but have been 
supplied by some other Poet. This notion possibly receives some weight 
from the remark of many of the learned, that ihe whole Epistle falls short 
of the usual spirit and elegance of Ovid. 

\ 



EP. XXI.] CYDIPPE TO ACONTITJS. 233 

I am doing within, 20 she says, " She is asleep." Afterwards, 
when sleep, the best pretext for long privacy, ceases, through 
the length of time slowly passing, to be a plausible excuse, and 
when she sees some one coming whom it is a difficult matter 
not to admit, she coughs, 21 and by this feigned signal she gives 
me warning. Just as I am, in haste, I leave the words un- 
finished, and the concealed letter is hidden in my palpipating 
bosom. Afterwards, taken out again it wearies my fingers ; 
thou thyself seest 22 how great a labour it is to me. 

May I die, to speak the truth, if thou art deserving of 
this ; but I am kinder than thy due, and than what thou 
dost deserve. And have I, then, on thy account, uncertain 
of my recovery, so often paid the penalty for thy artifices, and 
do I still pay it ? Is this the reward that falls to me for 
my extraordinary beauty, thou being my admirer ? And is it 
criminal to have proved agreable ? If, which I would have 
preferred, I had appeared ugly to thee, my body, censured 
for its imperfections, would have been requiring no assistance. 
Now, when admired, I am groaning with anguish ; now with 
your contentions 23 you are destroying me ; and from my own 

-° Am doing within.'] — Ver. 19. ' Intus' is a reading very happily- 
substituted by Heinsius for ' inter,' which was the general reading before, 
' rogantibus inter' being taken to mean ' interrogantibus.' This was one 
of the passages severely censured by the critics, and pronounced to be un- 
worthy of the genius of Ovid. They could not imagine it probable that 
a Poet so distinguished by plainness and evenness of style, would 
have used the figure Tmesis in this word, and at the end of a line. We 
may here remark, that the word ' Tmesis' is derived from the Greek word 
tsuvoj, * to divide,' and that it is a figure by which the parts of a compound 
word are divided by the interposition of another. 

21 She coughs.] — Ver. 24. ' Exscreo' seems to imply a combination of 
coughing and spitting. This inelegant method of giving a signal is 
elsewhere mentioned by Ovid. She alludes here to the visits of the per- 
sons of her family, who had a right to enter her chamber. 

22 Thyself seest.] — Ver. 28. Probably in allusion to the un evenness of 
the writing. We are to suppose that she writes while sitting up in bed ; 
consequently, from her position, the labour of writing would be materi- 
ally increased. 

- 3 Your contentions.] — Ver. 37. The word ' vestro ' being used, we 
must understand this censure as being directed against both Acontius and 
his rival, though, in reality, only the former was in fault. But, as the ad- 
dresses of the other were an obstruction to her being the wife of Acon- 
tius, and consequently both brought on her present illness and retarded 
her recovery, he, too, is complained of as having contributed to her mis- 
fortune. 



234 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEKOINES. [EP. XXI. 

merits do I receive the wound. While neither dost thou 
give way, nor does he think himself thy inferior ; thou dost 
prove an obstacle to his desires, he to thine. I myself am 
tossed to and fro, just like a ship, which the strong Boreas is 
driving out to the open sea, as the tide and the waves carry 
it back. 

And when now the day, wished for by my dear parents, is at 
hand, just then an extreme fever pervades my body ; and at 
the very moment for my forced marriage stern Persephone 24 
is knocking at my door. I am ashamed now, for some unde- 
fined reason; and I am in dread, although I am not conscious 
to myself of guilt, lest I should appear to have deserved the 
Gods to be- angry. One affirms that this happens through 
chance ; and another declares that this husband is not accept- 
able to the Gods above. And do not suppose that report 
says nothing against thee as well ; a part believe that this 
happens through thy enchantments. The cause is unknown ; 
my sufferings are evident ; you two, banishing peace, wage 
hostile warfare ; I bear the punishment. Continue still, 25 and 
deceive me 26 in thy usual manner ; what wilt thou do in hatred, 
when in love thou dost thus afflict me ? If thou dost injure 27 
what thou dost love, to good purpose wilt thou love thy enemy. 

24 Stern Persephone.~] — Ver. 46. When Cydippe says that Persephone 
is knocking at the door, she means that the fever rages with such violence 
as to threaten her with death. Tibullus has a similar passage. ' At mini 
Persephone nigram denunciat horam.' ' But Persephone warns me of the 
gloomy hour.' 

25 Continue still.] — Ver. 55. The usual reading is ' Dicam nunc/ 'Now 
I will tell you :' but Heinsius thinks it should be ' I jam nunc' This 
has been adopted, as it renders the sense clear and distinct, which the 
other reading does not. 

26 Deceive me.'] — Ver. 55. Cydippe hints at her sufferings and the 
cause of them, which, according to his own account, is his love. If then 
his love is so fatal to her, what must she not fear from his hatred. This 
gives rise to her injunction, that he shall still persist in deceiving her ; 
as she has less reason to apprehend danger from that, than if he should 
change his mind. 

27 Thotl dost injure.] — Ver. 57. If, as has been suggested, Ovid 
really was not the author of this Epistle, it is clear that whoever 
composed it has copied him very closely in his ingenious turns and wit- 
ticisms, as they are imitated with the greatest exactness. The present 
distich is an admirable instance of those argumentative turns which bear 
such strong marks of the forensic education of the writer. 



EP. XXI.] CTDIPPE TO ACOKTIUS. 235 

That thou mayst save me, I pray thee, wish to be ready 28 to 
destroy me. Either thou hast 29 now no regard for the fair 
for whom thou didst sigh, whom in thy cruelty thou art 
allowing to perish by an undeserved fate ; or else, if in vain 
the unrelenting Goddess is entreated by thee in my behalf, 
why boast about thyself to me ? Thou hast no influence 
with her. Choose which 30 to adopt. If thou dost not choose 
to propitiate Diana, then thou art forgetful of me ; if thou 
canst not, then is she forgetful of thee. 

I could wish either that Delos had never been known 
by me in the iEgean waves, or, at least, not on that occa- 
sion. At that moment was my bark launched in an in- 
auspicious sea, and unlucky was the hour for my intended 
voyage. With, which foot 31 did I commence my journey ? 
With which foot did I move from the threshold? With 
which foot did I touch the painted sides of the swift 
bark ? But twice with adverse gales did our canvass bear us 
back. Alas ! in my distraction, I am speaking falsely ! those 

28 To be ready.'] — Ver. 58. Heinsius contends, and with considerable 
justice, that there must be some mistake here on the part of the tran- 
scribers. ' Velle velis ' is a way of speaking, harsh and unpoetical in the 
extreme. He would therefore substitute for it ' perdere, dure, velis,' ' that, 
cruel one, thou mayst wish to injure me.' 

29 Either thou hast.] — Ver. 59. This reasoning of Cydippe, with re- 
ference to the wrath of the offended Goddess, is specious, but still it is fal- 
lacious. Whatever degree of favour Acontius might enjoy from the God- 
dess, his prayers could not avail to pacify her resentment, unless Cydippe 
at the same time should resolve to perform her engagement ; for, as 
the breach of her vow had first provoked her wrath, so there was no way 
left to remove it, but by removing the offence. Acontius therefore had 
done all that could be expected from him ; he had acquainted Cydippe in 
what manner she was to hope for relief, and, if she should refuse the 
terms, the blame would not be his. 

20 Choose which.] — Ver. 63. The argument that Cydippe here uses 
against Acontius is what we commonly term a ' dilemma,' in which method 
of reasoning an adversary is puzzled whichever side he takes. Cydippe 
tells him, that take which he pleases, there is nothing on either side 
of the argument in the least favourable to his cause. ' Either you 
do not wish to appease Diana, or you cannot do it. If the former is 
the case, you are regardless of me ; if the latter, Diana is regardless of 
you.' 

31 With which foot.] — Ver. 69. Among other superstitions, the an- 
cients were careful not to set out on a journey by moving the left foot 
first, as that was an omen of ill. 



236 THE EPISTLES OE THE HEROINES. [EP. XXI. 

gales were propitious. Propitious were those gales that bore 
me back as I sped ; and that opposed my ill-fated voyage. 
And would that they had remained obstinately opposed to my 
sails ! but it is ridiculous to complain of the inconstancy of 
the winds. 

Attracted by 32 the fame of the place, I hastened to visit 
Delos ; and I seemed to be making the voyage in a slow ship. 
How often did I utter reproaches against the oars, as though 
tardy ; and I complained that too little sail was given to the 
winds. And now had I passed Myconos, now Tenos and 
Andros ; 33 and bright Delos was before my eyes. Soon as I 
beheld it from afar, I said, " Island, why dost thou retreat 
from me ? Art thou floating in the great sea as in former 
times ?" I reached the land, when now, day nearly past, the 
Sun was preparing to take the harness off his purple steeds. 
After he had recalled them to their wonted rising, my locks 
were dressed by the order of my mother. She herself put 
jewels on my fingers, and gold upon my locks, 34 and she her- 
self placed the garments upon my shoulders. At once, going 
forth, we presented to the Gods above, to whom the island 
is sacred, saluted by us, yellow frankincense and wine. And 
while my mother was staining the altars with votive blood, 

32 Attracted by.] — Ver. 77. The descriptions of the Poet are gene- 
rally consistent with truth and nature. There is nothing more common 
when any misfortune has happened to us, than to recal to our mind all the 
little circumstances and particulars that have concurred to produce it. We 
are apt to imagine a certain fatality in things, and to see ourselves hurried 
on by a train of circumstances that rendered it unavoidable. Thus, Cy- 
dippe, from a reflection on her misfortune, is led to revert to its origin, 
and the several steps by which it has been brought about. The narrative 
is diversified with very apt reflections ; and all the particulars that may 
have conduced to her sorrows are mentioned with great exactness. 
Delos was an island in the iEgean Sea, the chief of the Cyclades, especially 
famous for the birth there of Apollo and Diana. It was said to have for- 
merly floated under the waves. 

33 And Andros.'] — Ver. 81. Andros was an island in the ^Egean sea, 
opposite the coast of Euboea. Myconos was one of the Cyclades. Tenos 
was also an island in the vEgean sea. 

34 Upon my locks.'] — Ver. 89. Burmann would prefer ' cruribus,' in 
place of ' crinibus,' and would take the word ' aurum,' to refer to leggings 
or garters embroidered with gold. Ovid seems, however, really to refer 
to the ' crinale,' or ' bodkin,' worn in the hair. The mother's pride in 
dressing the girl in all her finery is beautifully depicted. 



EP. XXI.] CYDIPPE TO ACONTITJS. 237 

and was heaping up the hallowed entrails on the smoking 
altars ; my attentive nurse led me also to the other temples, 
and with wandering steps we strayed through the holy spots. 
And sometimes I sauntered in the porticos, sometimes I 
admired the gifts of the kings, and the statues that stood in 
every quarter ; I admired, too, the altar built of horns 35 innu- 
merable, and the tree 36 against which the Goddess leaned in 
her labour ; the other things, too, besides, which Delos pos- 
sesses, (for neither do I remember, nor do I care to mention, 
whatever I saw there.) 

Perhaps, Acontius, while beholding these things, I was 
beheld by thee, and my simplicity seemed to be able to be 
ensnared. I returned to the temple of Diana, lofty with 
its steps ; 37 what place ought to have been more secure than 
that ? An apple is thrown before my feet with an inscription 
like this — Ah me ! now, again, had I almost sworn to thee. — 
My nurse took this up, and, surprised, she said, " Read it 
over." Then, wondrous poet, did I read thy ensnaring words. 
The name of wedlock mentioned, confused with shame I 
felt that I was blushing all over my cheeks ; my eyes, too, 
I kept as though fixed on my bosom ; eyes that had been 
made the accomplices of thy design. Traitor ! why dost thou 
rejoice ? Or what glory has been acquired by thee ? Or what 
renown hast thou, a man, for having deceived a maiden ? De- 
fended by a buckler, 33 I had not taken my stand, wielding 
the battle-axe ; like Penthesilea 39 on the Ilian shores. No 

35 Built of horns.'] — Ver. 99. Callimachus says that this altar was 
built by Apollo, with the horns of beasts that had been slain by Diana 
in the chase. An anonymous author adds, that they were all the right 
horns of beasts that had been slain in one day. 

36 And the tree.]— Y ex. 100. We are told in the Sixth Book of the 
Metamorphoses, 1. 335, that Latona, when she was delivered of Apollo and 
Diana, leaned against an olive and a palm tree. 

37 With its steps.] — Ver. 105. The ancients, in building their temples 
to the Gods, generally made choice of an elevated situation. 

38 By a buckler.] — Ver. 117. The 'pelta' was a small light shield, 
first introduced among the Greeks by Iphicrates. It was generally made 
of wood or wicker, covered with skin or leather. It is said by some au- 
thors to have been quadrangular. A light shield of that character having 
been part of the national armour of Thrace, it was attributed to the 
Amazons, in whose hands it is sometimes represented as elliptical, and 
sometimes with a semi-circular indentation, in shape like a half moon. 

35 Penthesilea.] — Ver. 118. Penthesilea was a queen of the Amazons, 



238 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEEOLNES. [EP. XXI. 

belt, embossed with Amazonian gold, was borne off as a booty 
by thee, as though from Hippolyta. 40 

Why dost thou exult if thy words did 41 act the deceiver for 
me ; and if I, a thoughtless girl, was caught by thy stratagem ? 
An apple beguiled Cydippe, so did an apple deceive the 
daughter of Schoeneus. 42 Thou wilt now be a second Hippo- 
menes, forsooth. But it had 43 been better (if that boy had pos- 
session of thee, who, as thou sayest, carries I know not what 
torches), after the usual manner with honourable men, not to 
debase thy hopes by fraudulence ; I ought to have been so- 
licited, not circumvented by thee. Why, since thou didst 
sigh for me, didst thou not think that those points ought to 
be urged on account of which thou thyself wast worthy to 
be desired by me ? Why wast thou willing rather to force 
than to persuade me, if, on learning thy proposal, I could 
have been won over ? Of what advantage to thee now is the 
form of the oath, and the tongue that called the Goddess 
personally to witness 1 It is the intention 44 that takes 
the oath ; in that I have not sworn ; that alone is able to 
give weight to what we say. Design and the avowed pur- 

who was said to have invented the battle-axe. Going to the Trojan war 
to assist Priam, she was slain by Achilles, who afterwards manifested 
extreme sorrow for her fate. 

40 Hippolyta.'] — Ver. 120. She alludes to the task enjoined by Eurys- 
theus upon Hercules, of obtaining the belt of Hippolyta, the queen of 
the Amazons. Cydippe means that Acontius, in triumphing over her, can 
acquire no such glory as Hercules did in vanquishing Hippolyta. 

41 Thy words did.] — Ver. 121.' As usual on all possible occasions, he 
puns on the word ' verba.' ' Verba ' alone means ' words,' but ' verba 
dare,' is a phrase meaning ' to deceive.' 

42 Daughter of Schoeneus.] — Ver. 123. The story of Atalanta, the 
daughter of Schceneus, and how she was vanquished in the race by Hippo- 
menes, is related in the Tenth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

43 But it had.] — Ver. 125. Cydippe here begins to relent, and to 
betray her affection for Acontius. She could be content to fall to 
his lot, but, if possible, with less danger and misery to herself. She 
therefore blames him for not having addressed her in the usual and 
approved mode. It would have been both a more honorable and a 
safer way of proceeding. He has now nothing to trust to but the sem- 
blance of an oath, which, as it was pronounced without the assent of the 
will or the judgment, cannot, with any appearance of reason, be deemed 
binding. 

44 The intention.] — Ver. 135. Here, at least, her argument is quite 
unanswerable. 



EP. XXI.] CYD1PPE TO ACONTITJS. 239 

pose of the intention form the oath, and no fetters but those 
of the judgment are binding. 

If I intended to engage myself to thee in wedlock ; then 
insist upon the due rights of the promised alliance. But if I 
have given thee nothing except mere words without meaning ; 
thou dost vainly depend upon words destitute of their proper 
force. I have taken no oath ; I have read the form of an 
oath. Not in such manner as that wast thou to be chosen for 
my husband. Deceive others in the same manner ; let an 
epistle come after the apple. If this is binding, carry off the 
great wealth of the rich man ; make kings to swear 45 that they 
will give to thee their realms ; and, whatever pleases thee 
throughout the whole world, let it be thine. By that same 
(believe me) thou art much greater than Diana herself, if thy 
writing has a divine power so efficacious in its favour. 

And yet, when I have said these things, when I have reso- 
lutely refused myself to thee, when the reason of my promise has 
been so well discussed ; I confess that I stand in dread of the 
wrath of the relentless daughter of Latona ; and I suspect that 
from that quarter my body is afflicted. For why, so oft as the 
nuptial rites are in preparation, do the languid limbs of the des- 
tined bride as often fail ? Three times has approaching Hyme- 
naeus now fled at the altars erected for me, and turned his 
back on the threshold of my nuptial chamber. The lamps, too, 
so often filled by the wearied hand, with difficulty are lighted 
up ; hardly do the torches keep alight on the flame being 
waved. Often do the unguents drop from his hair crowned 
with garlands, and his mantle, beautiful with plenteous crim- 
son, 46 is swept along the ground. When he reached our 
threshold, he perceived my tears 47 and my apprehensions of 

45 Kings to swear.] — Ver. 147. By a ' reductio ad absurdum,' Cy- 
dippe endeavours to put Acontius out of conceit with his device, b'y 
representing it as contrary to common sense. But as the absurd law then 
in force at Delos, bound persons by their words and not by the intention, 
Cydippe was still obliged to make good her vow ; and her reasoning, 
though just in the abstract, is irrelevant in this particular case. 

46 Plenteous crimson.'] — Ver. 162. The Romans, with a singular want 
of perspicuity, were in the habit of calling any yellow, red, or pink 
colour, by the general name of ' croceum,' or ' crocus,' which originally 
meant ' saffron colour' alone. 

i7 My tears.'] — Ver. 163. Hymen was always supposed to be received 



240 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEBOIKES. [EP. XXI. 

death, and many things the reverse of his own rites. He him- 
self threw down his chaplets torn from his contracted brow, 
and he wiped the thick amomum from his shining locks. He 
was ashamed, too, to arise joyous in a sorrowing crowd, and 
the red that was 48 on his mantle was transferred to his face. 

But, ah wretched me ! my limbs are parched with fever ; 
and the coverings 49 have a weight greater than usual. I 
behold my parents, too, lamenting over my features ; and in- 
stead of the torch of marriage, the torch of death is prepared 
for me. Compassionate my sufferings, Goddess, that dost 
delight in the painted quiver ; and grant me now the health- 
restoring aid of thy brother. It is a reproach to thee, that 
he does avert the causes of death ; and that thou, on the 
other hand dost have the credit of my destruction. Have 
I ever, unawares, turned my looks towards thy bath, 50 when 
thou wast preparing to bathe at the fountain ? Have I 
passed by thy altars alone out of so many inhabitants of 
heaven? And has thy mother ever been slighted by my 
mother? 51 In nought have I offended, except that I have 
read the perjured lines ; and I have been learned in the matter 
of the verse so far from fortunate to me. 

But do thou as well, if thou art not pretending thy affec- 
tion, offer frankincense in my behalf; those hands which 
have done the injury may furnish the relief. Why does the 
Goddess, who is enraged that the damsel already promised to 
thee does not become thine, cause her not to be able to be- 
come thine ? Every thing must be hoped by thee while I 
am alive ; why does the cruel Goddess take away life from me, 
and the hope of gaining me from thee ? But do not 52 thou 

with joy and gladness. Consequently, on entering a house full of tears 
and apprehensions, he saw nothing that hespoke his usual reception. 

48 The red that was.'] — Ver. 168. This shows that the colour of his 
' palla' was not saffron, hut pink or crimson. The ' flammeum' or veil 
worn hy the bride, was of the colour called ' croceum ;' probably of a red 
or fiery hue, if we may judge from j flamma,' the origin of the word. 

40 The coverings.'] — Ver. 170. Here the word ' palhum ' seems to have 
the meaning of ' blanket,' or ' counterpane.' 

50 Towards thy bath.] — Ver. 178. She alludes to the offence of 
which Actaeon was guilty, and in the next line to that of OEneus, the king 
of Calydon. 

51 By my mother.] — Ver. 180. She here alludes to the guilt of Niobe. 

52 But do not.] — Ver. 189. Cydippe now begins to open her mind 



EP. XXI.] CYDIPPE TO ACONTIUS. 241 

suppose that he, to whom I am destined for a wife, chafes my 
weakened limbs with his hand laid upon them. He sits by, 
indeed, so far as is allowed him ; but he remembers that 
mine is the bed of a virgin. Now, too, he seems to have 
discovered I know not what about me ; for, the cause lying 
concealed, his tears often fall. And he caresses me with less 
boldness, and seldom snatches a kiss ; and he calls me his own 
with faltering voice. Nor am I surprised that he has dis- 
covered it, since I am betrayed by manifest signs. When he 
comes, I turn myself upon my right side ; 53 I do not speak, 
and closing my eyes, sleep is pretended by me; and I push 
away his hand as it tries to touch me. He groans and sighs 
with silent breast ; and he finds me averse, although he de- 
serves it not. Ah me ! that thou dost rejoice, and that this 
pleasure delights thee ! Ah me ! that I have avowed to thee 
my feelings ! 

If utterance 54 were allowed me, then art thou justly de- 
serving of my anger, who didst lay these toils for me. Thou 
writest that it may be allowed thee to visit my languishing 
body; thou art far away from me ; and yet from a distance dost 
thou wound. I used to wonder why thy name was Acontius ; 
thou hast a dart 55 which inflicts wounds from afar. At least, I 
have not yet recovered from such a wound ; pierced from afar 
by thy letter, as though by a javelin. But why shouldst 
thou come here ? To behold my wretched body indeed, the 

more plainly, so as to give Acontius reason to think that he is not alto- 
gether indifferent to her. She takes pains to remove all his jealousies 
and fears, and to satisfy him that his rival has had no reason to boast of 
her indulgence. 

53 My right side.'] — Ver. 198. Some suggest that this means that she 
would be lying at other times on her left side, for the purpose of extend- 
ing her right hand, that the physician might feel her pulse. But ' dexter ' 
probably means here, the opposite side to that on which her lover was 
standing. 

54 If utterance.'] — Ver. 205. This and the two preceding lines are 
generally supposed to be hopelessly corrupt. 

55 Hast a dart.'] — Ver. 210. By reason of this pun upon his name, 
Burmann will not admit this line and the next to have been composed by 
Ovid ; inasmuch as a play upon a name is never found in the better poets. 
To us it would appear to be particularly O vidian, as the Poet seldom ap- 
pears to have resisted such a temptation. ' Acumen' means ' the point of a 
javelin, or dart' ; and she here alludes to his name in its original significa- 
tion, as cckovtiop was the Greek for ' a javelin.' 

Pv 



242 THE EPISTLES OF THE HEROINES. [EP. XXI. 

twofold trophy 56 of thy ingenuity. I am fallen away with 
thinness ; my complexion is bloodless ; just as I call to mind 
that it was on thy apple. My fair features, too, are not tinted 
with a mixture of red ; the appearance of new marble is wont 
to be such. The colour of silver plate at a feast is such, which 
turns pale when touched with the chill of cold water. If thou 
wast now to see me, thou wouldst deny that thou hadst seen 
me before, and thou wouldst say, " She is not worthy to be 
sought after by my artifices ;" and thou wouldst release me 
from the stringency of my promise, that I might not be 
united to thee ; and thou wouldst desire the Goddess not to 
bear that in mind. Perhaps, too, thou wouldst make me swear 
over again the contrary, and wouldst be sending other words 
to me to read. 

But still I wish that thou couldst see me, as thou hast 
requested, and couldst perceive the weakened limbs of her 
who is engaged to thee. Hadst thou a heart, Acontius, 
even harder than iron, yet thou thyself wouldst entreat pardon 
in my own words. But that thou mayst not be ignorant by 
what means I may be restored to health ; enquiries have been 
made at Delphi of the God who predicts futurity. He, too, 
as a floating report now whispers, complains that some damsel, 
I know not who, has neglected her oath, he attesting it. This, 
the God 57 and the prophetess, this, too, do my own ill-written 
lines proclaim ; but no verses 58 are wanting for thy wishes. 
Whence this favour to thee ? Unless, perchance, some new 
characters have been discovered by thee, which, when read, 

56 Two-fold trophy.] — Ver. 214. This is generally supposed to mean, 
a trophy gained, first, by his deceiving her through the stratagem of the 
apple, and then by his exciting against her the enmity of Diana. The pas- 
sage is, however, of very obscure signification ; it may possibly mean the 
alternative of death or marriage. 

57 This, the God.'] — Ver. 235. This and the following line are in a 
very corrupt state. Some would take ' vates' to refer to Acontius ; it appears 
rather to mean the Pythia, or priestess of Apollo at Delphi. Cydippe 
seems to mean that the ' carmina,' or ' verses,' had been a cause of woe to 
her, while they had succeeded so much to his wishes. 

58 No verses.] — Ver. 236. She seems to play upon the word ' carmina' 
here in its various significations, of ' prophecies/ 4 incantations,' ' lines,' 
' poetical composition,' through the medium of which Acontius had been 
successful ; both as regarded his ' carmina' or ' line,' written on the apple, 
the ' carmina,' or ' answer,' given by the Pythia, and her own ' carmina,' 

\ox ' lines,' which, by the bad writing, testified the wrath of the Goddess. 



EP. XXI.] CYDIPPE TO ACOKTIUS. 243 

deceive 69 the great Gods. And thus, thou obtaining the favour 
of the Gods, I myself submit to the power of the Gods ; and I 
willingly extend my conquered hands in obedience to thy de- 
sires. I have confessed, too, to my mother, the engagement 
made by my deceived tongue, while keeping my eyes, full of 
shame, fixed upon the ground. 

The rest is thy care ; even this that I have done is more 
than becomes a maiden, in that my paper has not hesitated to 
hold converse with thee. Now have I sufficiently wearied 
my weakened limbs with the pen, and my feeble hand refuses 
its duty any longer. But that I wish now to unite myself with 
thee, what remains 60 but that I should write? Farewell. 

59 When read, deceive.] — Ver. 238. Some would render ' capiat ' as 
signifying 'please,' or 'win over.' The meaning seems rather to be 
' deceive,' or ' beguile,' in the same manner as she has been beguiled by 
his writing. 

60 What remains.] — Ver. 247. Some Commentators remark that this 
conclusion is as inelegant as the Epistle itself : a censure which neither the 
Epistle nor its conclusion seems to us to deserve. It is worthy of observa- 
tion, that of these twenty-one Epistles, Ovid, in the Eighteenth Elegy of 
the Second Book of the ' Amores,' avows himself to be the author of the 
following nine. Penelope to Ulysses, Phyllis to Demophoon, (Enone to 
Paris, Phaedra to Hippolytus, Hypsipyle to Jason, Dido to iEneas, Ariadne 
to Theseus, Canace to Macareus, and Sappho to Phaon. 



THE 

THREE RESPONSIVE EPISTLES 

OF 

AULUS SABINUS, 

A POET OF THE AUGUSTAN PERIOD. 



EPISTLE I. 

ULYSSES TO PENELOPE. 

This Epistle is written in answer to that of Ovid from Penelope to 
Ulysses. He accounts to his wife for his delay, now that Troy has heen 
levelled with the ground ; he informs her of his numerous afflictions, 
and assures her of his continued affection. 

Chajstce, Penelope, has brought, at last, thy words, inscribed 
on the affectionate paper, to the wretched Ulysses. I recog- 
nized both the dear hand, and the faithful signet ;* they 
proved a consolation amid my protracted woes ; thou dost 
blame me as being slow to return ; perhaps I could even 
wish I were so ; rather than tell thee what I have endured and 
what I still endure. Greece did not accuse me of that fault ;" 
when feigned madness detained my sails on my native shores ; 
but rather that 3 I was not desirous, and was not able to forego 
thy society ; and thou thyself didst prove the cause of my 
dissembling as to my sanity. 

'Tis thy anxiety that I should write nothing in return, 4 and 

1 The faithful signet.] — Ver. 3. ' Gemmasque fideles :' literally, ' and the 
faithful gems.' ' Gemma ' is especially used to signify the precious stone 
that is fixed in the bezel of a ring. 

2 Of that fault.] — Ver. 7. Of being ' lentus,' ' inert ' or ' inactive in my 
love for you/ 

3 But rather that.] — Ver. 9. He says that the objection made to him 
was, that he was too fond of his wife, when he feigned madness to avoid 
parting with her ; a stratagem which was discovered by Palamedes. 

i Write nothing in return.] — Ver. 11. He alludes to the second line 
of the Epistle of Penelope, ' Nil mihi rescribas attamen ; ipse veni.' 



EP. I.] ULYSSES TO PENELOPE. 245 

that I should hasten to come. As I was hastening, the hostile 
South winds bore back my sails. Troy, so hateful to the Grecian 
fair, does not detain me ; Troy is now only ashes, and a dismal 
plain. Deiphobus, too, lies prostrate, Asius is prostrate, 5 
and Hector is prostrate ; and whoever, besides, was the cause 
of thy apprehensions. I have escaped, too, the onsets of the 
Thracians, their leader Rhesus slain, being borne back to 
my tents by his captured steeds \ in safety, also, from the 
midst of the citadel of the Phrygian Tritonis, did I bear off the 
captured pledge of victory decreed by the Fates. 6 Entrust- 
ing myself to the horse, 7 I feared not ; although the pro- 
phetess, 3 disastrously anxious, cried aloud, " Ye Trojans, burn 
the horse ; burn it ; within the deceiving wood Greeks are con- 
cealed; and they are making their last attack 9 upon the wretched 
Phrygians." Achilles had gone without the last honours of 
sepulture, but by my shoulders was he restored to Thetis. 

And for labours so great, the Greeks did not refuse due praise ; 
as my reward, 10 I received the arms of the body which I had 
rescued. But what matters that ? In the ocean are they sunk. 11 
No fleets, no companions survive for me ; the deep has them 
all. Love only still remains with me, who, patient under mis- 
fortunes, has hardened me by so many woes. The virgin 
daughter of Nisus 12 has not discouraged him with her raven - 

5 Asius is prostrate.] — Ver. 15. Asius was a Trojan, the son of Hyr- 
tacus ; he was killed by Idomeneus. 

6 Decreed by the Fates.] — Ver. 20. The several points here referred to 
by Ulysses will be found detailed and explained in his speech in the 
Thirteenth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

7 To the horse.] — Ver. 21. Ulysses was one of the warriors who were 
enclosed in the wooden horse, when it was admitted within the walls of 
Troy. 

8 Although the prophetess.] — Ver. 22. This was Cassandra, who advised 
them to burn the wooden horse ; but it was her fate never to be believed. 

9 Making their last attack.] — Ver. 24. ' Ultima bella ferunt,' may mean 
this, or possibly, ' are bringing the warfare home to.' 

10 As my reward.] — Ver. 28. He contended with Ajax Telamon for 
the honour of receiving the arms of Achilles. See the narrative in the 
Thirteenth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

1 1 In the ocean are they sunk.] — Ver. 29. When his vessel was wrecked 
on his return from Troy. 

13 Daughter of Nisus.] — Ver. 33. In common with both Virgil and 
Ovid, Sabinus falls into the error of supposing that the Scylla, who was 
changed into the Sicilian whirlpool, was identical with the Scylla who be- 



246 THE RESPONSIVE EPISTLES OF SABHSUS. [EP. I. 

mg dogs ; nor yet Charybdis, whirling with her swelling 
waves ; nor savage Antiphates, 13 nor Parthenope 14 partaking of 
two forms in one body, assiduous with her charming melody. 
Not because Circe tried her Colchian herbs, 15 not because an- 
other Goddess 16 employed her embraces so solemnly pledged. 17 
Both of them used to give hopes that they were able to take 
away from me my mortal threads, 18 and both, the Stygian paths. 
But, despising even this gift, I have sought thyself, doomed 
to suffer so many evils by land, and so many by sea. But thou, 
perhaps now influenced by the name of a female, wilt not 
read the rest of my words free from anxiety. Thou wilt, too, 
be tormented with apprehensions, before unknown, what Circe 
had to do with me, and what the cunning Calypso. 18 * 

Assuredly, when I read of Antinoiis, and Polybus, and 
Medon, 19 alas ! in all my body did no blood remain ! Amid 
so many youths, so much streaming wine, 20 thou dost continue 
(ah me ! on what proof shall I credit it ?) still chaste. Or 

trayed her father Nisus to Minos, when besieging the city of Megara. 
The story of the one is to be found in the Eighth, and of the other in the 
Fourteenth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

13 Antiphates.} — Ver. 35. He was the king of the Laestrygons, who 
were cannibals. 

14 Parthenope.'] — Ver. 36. This was one of the Sirens, who, when 
she was unable to arrest Ulysses in his course by the melody of her voice, 
precipitated herself from a rock in despair, and was carried by the waves 
to the spot which was afterwards called by her name, and was the site of 
the city of Naples. 

15 Colchian herds."] — Ver. 37. Circe, as being the sister of Medea, was 
supposed to be a native of Colchis. 

16 Another Goddess.] — Ver. 38. This was Calypso, who was charmed 
with Ulysses, and strongly opposed his departure from her island. 

17 Solemnly pledged.] — Ver. 38. ' Solennes ' may have this meaning, 
or perhaps that of ' acknowledged,' ' avowed/ or ' usual,' as a matter of 
course. 

18 My mortal threads.] — Ver. 39. That is, i They both declared them- 
selves able to withdraw my life from the power of the Fates, and to 
protect me from having to cross the Stygian waves/ 

!8 * Cunning Calypso.] — Ver. 45. ' Cauta,' ' cunning,' or ' wary,' seems 
better than the usual reading, < causa.' Heinsius approves of the former. 

19 Antinoiis, and Polybus. and Medon.] — Ver. 47. These were three of 
the suitors who were pestering Penelope with their addresses, and squander- 
ing the substance of her husband. 

20 Much streaming wine.] — Ver. 49. ' Vina liquentia.'- This reading 
seems preferable to ' vina licentia,' meaning ' wine unrestrained,' or ' with- 
out limit,' though the latter is preferred by Heinsius and Barthius. 



EP. I.] ULYSSES TO PENELOPE. 247 

"why do thy features please any one if they are in tears, 21 and 
why do not those charms of thine decay with weeping ? To 
marriage too, hast thou been pledged, did not the deceiving- 
web detain thee, and didst thou not cunningly always undo the 
work thou hadst commenced. A duteous contrivance indeed ; 
but how often 22 wilt thou deceive their eyes with the wool ? 
Will that contrivance ensure thee success as often ? 

Oh Polyphemus ! overwhelmed in thy cavern, I should have 
finished my days, wretched by reason of calamities 23 so great ! 
Better had I fallen conquered by the Thracian soldiers, 24 at 
the time when 25 my wandering barks arrived at Ismaros. Or 
I might have satisfied the cruel Pluto by my destruction at 
the time when, having delayed my death, 1 returned from the 
Stygian waves ; where I saw (a thing that thy epistle in vain 
conceals 26 from me) her, who, when I departed, was my still 
surviving mother. She reported the same misfortunes of my 
house ; and she fled from me as I sought to embrace her, thrice 
gliding away from my embrace. I saw, too, him of Phylace ; 27 
despising the prophecy, 28 he was the first to carry the warfare 

" l They are in tears.]— Ver. 51. He hints that she cannot have wept 
so much as she professes, or else all her beauty would have vanished, and 
she would have ceased to inflame her hearts of the suitors. Saltonstali 
renders this line rather quaintly — 

' Could they delight in thy tear-blubbered face ?' 

32 But how often.'] — Ver. 55. In accordance with the suggestion of 
Heinsius, a note of interrogation is here read after ' lana,' and another after 
• tibi.' 

23 Of calamities.']— Ver. 58. 'Ob mala' seems to be a preferable read- 
ing to ' ad mala.' 

24 The Thracian soldiers.] — Ver. 59. On setting out homewards, 
Ulysses landed in Thrace, in the country of the Ciconians, where his fol- 
lowers took and burned the town of Ismarus ; but while they delayed 
on the coast, they were attacked by the Ciconians and driven to their 
ships, with the loss of six men out of each ship. See the Ninth Book of 
the Odyssey. 

25 At the time when.] — Ver. 62. He refers here to his descent to, 
and return from, the Infernal regions. 

26 In vain conceals.] — Ver. 63. He accuses her of having concealed 
the fact, that his mother Anticlea had died since he had set out for the 
Trojan war. 

2 ? Him of Phylace.] — Ver 67. He alludes to Protesilaiis, who was of 
Phylax, or Phylace, in Thessaly. 

2 * Despising the prophecy.] — Ver. 67. The prophecy which foretold 
death to the first person that should land on the Troja*n shores. 



218 THE EESPONSITE EPISTLES OF SABTFUS. [EP. I. 

into the home of Hector. Blest is he, with his much praised 
wife! 29 joyous, amid the valiant shades she walks, accom- 
panying her husband. And yet Lachesis had not numbered 
for her her allotted years ; but she is delighted thus to have 
perished before her time. I beheld, and my eyes did not 
withhold the falling tears, the son of Atreus, (ah me !) 
mangled by his recent murder. 30 That hero Troy had not 
injured ; he had passed by both the infuriate Nauplius 31 and 
the Eubcean bays. To what purpose ? Through a thousand 
wounds did he pour forth his soul, now as he was performing 
his vows due to Jove, the guardian of his return. This 
penalty had the daughter of Tyndarus prepared for him, on 
account of his breach of 32 the nuptial contract ; she who her- 
self consorted with strange men. 33 

Alas ! of what use is it to me that (when the wife and 
the sister of Hector were standing amid the Trojan captives) 
I rather chose Hecuba, 34 with her failing years, in order 
that the love of a rival might not be suspected by thee ? She 
was the first to give a dreadful omen for my ships ; when 
she was discovered with limbs not her own. 35 With bark- 

29 Much-praised wife.'} — Ver. 69. Laodamia. It is said by some 
authors, that she had a statue of her husband, to which she paid divine 
honours, but that her father Acastus caused it to he hurned, on which 
she threw herself into the flames which consumed it. See her Epistle to 
Protesilaus. 

■° His recent murder."] — Ver. 74. Agamemnon was slain by his wife 
Clytemnestra, and her paramour, iEgisthus, while he was getting out of 
the bath. 

31 The infuriate Nauplius.'] — Ver. 76. Palamedes was treacherously 
slain by the contrivance of Ulysses. (See the Thirteenth Book of the 
Metamorphoses.) Upon this, his father Nauplius, the king of Euboea, 
with the view of avenging the death of his son, caused lighted torches 
to be exhibited on the promontory of Caphareus, in Euboea, in conse- 
quence of which many of the Grecian ships suffered shipwreck on the 
rocks of that island. 

32 His breach of] — Ver. 79. This alludes to Cassandra, who fell to 
the lot of Agamemnon, and about whom the infamous Clytemnestra 
professed to be jealous. She was afterwards slain by Clytemnestra. 

33 With strange men.] — Ver. 80. She intrigued with ^Egisthus, the 
cousin of Agamemnon. 

34 Chose Hecuba.]— Ver. 83. The story of the last days of the wretched 
Hecuba is pathetically told in the Thirteenth Book of the Metamor- 
phoses. 

35 Not her oivn.]—Yer. 86. This was when she was turned into 



IP. I.] TJ1TSSES TO PENELOPE. 249 

ing did the wretched creature put an end to her woful com- 
plaints ; and suddenly 36 she stood there changed into a raving 
bitch. Through such a portentous sight Thetis removed the 
calmness of the ocean, and pouring forth the South winds 
.zEolus brooded over it. Wandering thence, no longer happy, 
I have been carried over all the earth, and wherever the 
waves and the breezes call me, thither am I borne. But if 
Tiresias 37 was a soothsayer as prescient of what is fortunate 
as he was a true prophet with regard to my misfortunes ; 
having, by land and by sea, experienced in travel whatever 
he prophesied of evil to me, I am now wandering under more 
propitious auspices. 

Now, on what shores I know not, Pallas unites herself as a 
companion to me, and leads me through spots safe with kind 
entertainers. Now, for the first time since the destruction of 
ruined Troy, has Pallas been seen by me ; in the interven- 
ing time her anger withdrew her. In whatever the son of 
Oileus 38 had offended, one man was guilty for all ; for all the 
Greeks was her wrath destructive. Not even thee, son of Ty- 
deus, did she exempt, whose arms she had so lately encouraged ; 
thou, too, art returning from wandering over the world. 39 Not 
Teucer sprung from Telamon i0 by his captured wife ; not 

a bitch, after having wreaked her vengeance on Polymnestor for the 
murder of Polydorus. 

36 And suddenly.'] — Ver. 88. Saltonstall thus renders this line — 

1 But she out of her former shape did slip.' 

37 But if Tiresias.'] — Ver. 93. The story of Tiresias is related in the 
Third Book of the Metamorphoses. 

355 The son of Oileiis.] — Ver. 101. He alludes to the crime of Ajax 
Oileus, who had attempted to commit violence on Cassandra ; in return 
for which, Minerva sent a storm that dispersed the ships of the Greeks 
on their return. 

89 Oven the u-orld.] — Ver. 104. Diomedes, the son of Tydeus, being 
expelled from his native country on returning from the Trojan war, led 
a colony into the South of Italy. See the Fourteenth Book of the Meta- 
morphoses. 

40 Sprung from Telamon.] — Ver. 105. Teucer was the son of Telamon 
by Hesione, the captive daughter of Laomedon. After Ajax Telamon 
had put himself to death on being refused the arms of Achilles, Teucer 
was requested by his father to avenge the fate of his brother, which, how- 
ever, he declined to do. On this, he was expelled from Salamis, and flying 
to Cyprus, he there founded a city which he named Salamis. 



250 THE KESPONSIVE EPISTLES OE SAPINUS. [EP. I. 

himself for whose command were the thousand ships. 41 For- 
tunate son of Plisthenes, 42 whatever lot thou didst experience 
with thy beloved wife, it was not a deadly one. Whether 
the winds, or whether the ocean caused you delay ; by no 
misfortunes was your love checked. At least, neither did 
the winds nor the waves forbid thy kisses ; and thy arms were 
ever in readiness for the embrace. 

Would that I had been thus a wanderer ; thou wouldst have 
made the ocean smooth, my wife ; with thee for my com- 
panion, there would have been nothing sad for me. Even 
now, when I read that Telemachus is safe and well with thee, 
all my misfortunes are already lightened to my feelings. Still 
do I complain that he is going 43 again over the adverse waves 
to Sparta, the city of Hercules, and Pylos, the land of Nestor. 
Displeasing is the affection which so many perils attend ; for 
to his misfortune, has he been entrusted to the waves. 

But my labours 44 are at their close : the prophet has foretold 
our meeting on the shore ; in the embrace that belongs to 
thee, dear son, shalt thou be clasped. To be recognised by 
thee alone shall I come ; do thou carefully repress thy joy, 
and conceal thy gladness in thy silent breast. I must not 
contend by force, nor must I rush into open warfare ; thus 
has Apollo declared that his laurels 45 forewarn. 

Perhaps before a banquet, and amid the listlessness of wine, 
there will be a fitting opportunity for the quivers of the 

41 The thousand ships.']— Vex. 106. He alludes to Agamemnon in his 
capacity of generalissimo of the Greek forces. 

42 Son of Plisthenes.'] — Ver. 107. He alludes to Menelaus, who was 
said, with Agamemnon, to have heen the son of Plisthenes, and adopted 
by Atreus. He says that whatever his lot may have been after leaving 
Troy, still it was not a deadly one. His wife must, indeed, have been truly 
' dilecta' to him, considering all the trouble he took to regain so worth- 
less a person. 

43 That he is going.] — Ver. 117. She has mentioned in her Epistle the 
fact that he has been sent to those places. 

44 But my labours.] — Ver. 120. This had been prophesied to him by 
Tiresias. It was fulfilled when he met his son Telemachus in the cottage 
of Euraseus. situate on the sea-shore of Ithaca. 

45 That his laurels.] — Ver. 126. The laurel was sacred to Apollo, ana 
bis image was decorated with boughs of it. Persons who went to con- 
sult the Delphic oracle, were adorned with garlands of laurel. The 
Roman priests, on certain festivals, wore wreaths of laurel. 



EP. II.] DEMOPHOON TO PHYLLIS. 25 1 

avenger. 46 And then suddenly will they be surprised by Ulysses 
so lately despised. 47 Alas ! I pray that that day may hasten to 
approach ! That joyous day, which shall renew the compact 
of our marriage in days gone by ; and then, at length, my dear 
one, mayst thou begin to be blest in thy husband. 



EPISTLE II. 

DEMOPHOON TO PHYLLIS. 

This Epistle is written in answer to that of Ovid from Phyllis to Demo- 
phoon. In it, he excuses himself, on several grounds, for having failed 
to perform his promise of immediately returning to her. 

Demophoon sends this to thee, Phyllis, from his native city ; 
and he remembers that his native land was thy gift. 48 "With no 
other flame or wife is Demophoon engaged ; but no so happy 49 
is he, as when he was known to thee. A disgraceful thine 
for me to endure — the ruthless enemy has expelled Thesius 
from his realms, in whom, Phyllis, thou didst vainly pride 
thyself as thy father-in-law, (and perhaps he may have even 
given an impulse 50 to thy flame) ; this end did prolonged old age 
provide 51 for him. He who so lately routed 51 * the shield-bear- 

46 Quivers of the avenger.] — Ver. 128. He alludes prophetically to 
the manner in which the suitors were doomed to meet with destruction 
at his hands. 

47 So lately despised."] — Ver. 129. As having appeared in the garb of 
a beggar. 

48 Was thy gift.] — Ver. 2. As she gave him a hospitable shelter, and 
provided him with a ship to return to Athens. 

49 But not so happy.] — Ver. 4. ' Sed tarn non felix ' seems a par- 
ticularly awkward expression, and it is probably corrupt : but it does not 
seem, as Hemsius thinks it to be, contrary to the sense of the passage ; for 
he is evidently complaining that he is not now so light-hearted as when 
he was with her, nor so ready to be attracted by a new passion. 

50 Given an impulse.] — Ver. 6. This is certainly not very complimen- 
tary to the disinterestedness of Phyllis. 

51 Old age provide.] — Ver. 8. Demophoon had left Phyllis to proceed 
to Athens, on hearing of the death of Mnestheus, who had succeeded 
to the throne on the expulsion of Theseus. 

51 * So lately routed.] — Ver. 9. Theseus accompanied Hercmes in his 
expedition against the Amazons, who dwelt on tbe banks of the Tber- 
modon ; and distinguished himself so much on the occasion, that Her- 
cules bestowed on him the hand of the vanquished queen, Antiope, or, as 



252 THE BESPONSIVE EPISTLES OF SABIFTJS. [EP. II. 

ing female dwellers in Mseotis 52 with his arms, the companion 
of the great Alcides, himself no less. He who formerly made 
Minos to be his father-in-law 53 from a vengeful enemy, as he 
wondered how the horns of his monster were overcome. 

I am accused (who could have believed it ?) of having been 
the cause of his exile ; and my brother 54 does not allow me to 
be silent under the accusation. " While," says he, " thou art 
pressing for an alliance with thy beloved Phyllis, and thy pas- 
sion is occupied in love for a stranger, time has sped in the 
meanwhile gliding on with fleeting foot, and the hour of 
sorrow has anticipated thy delay. Perhaps thou mightst have 
been able either to arrive while our affairs were not as yet in 
a ruinous state, or even if ruined, thou still mightst have been 
able to be useful. Why have the Rhodopeian realms proved 
more delightful to thee, and the fair one who has been 
more dear to thee than kingdoms?" In these words does 
Acamas 55 thunder aloud : presently does iEthra 56 blame me in 
the same terms ; a wretched old woman who has now nearly 
finished her days. She is always declaring, too, that my delay 
has been the cause that the hands of her son do not close her 
dying eyes. 

For my part I do not deny it ; much did they both 57 call for 

she is sometimes called, Hippolyta, who became by him the mother of 
Hippolytus, and whom he afterwards put to death. According to some 
writers, the Amazons, in revenge, invaded the Attic territory, and were sig- 
nally defeated by Theseus. 

52 Dwellers in Mmotis.] — Ver. 9. The Palus Maeotis, situate at the 
north of the Euxine, is now called the sea of Azeph. In its vicinity the 
Amazons were said to dwell. 

53 His father-in-law. ] — Ver. 11. This was when he had conquered the 
Minotaur by the aid of Ariadne, whom he then carried away from Crete. 

54 And my brother.'] — Ver. 14. This was Acamas, who is afterwards 
referred to by name. 

55 Does Acamas.'] — Ver. 23. Acamas was a son of Theseus, and a 
brother of Demophoon, whom he accompanied to the Trojan war. Vir- 
gil mentions him in the number of those who were enclosed in the 
wooden horse, on which occasion he was, according to Pausanias, accom- 
panied by his brother Demophoon, though the latter, is not named by Virgil. 
Lucian, in one passage, seems to hint that it was Acamas who was beloved 
by Phyllis. He finally obtained the throne at Athens, and gave its name 
to the Acamantian tribe. 

56 Does A?thra.]—Ver. 23. She was the wife of ^Egeus, and the 
mother of Theseus. 

67 Did they both.] — Ver. 27. Acamas and iEthra, namely. 



EP. II.] DEMOPHOON TO PHYLLIS. 253 

me, when my ship was standing at anchor in the Thracian 
waves. " The winds, Demophoon, invite thy sails, why art 
thou lingering ? Obdurate Demophoon, have regard for the 
Gods of thy native land. Have some regard ; and take 
Phyllis, with whom thou art so pleased, as an example. She 
so loves, as to be unwilling to depart from her native land. 
And she entreats thee that thou wilt be ready to return, that she 
may not attend thee when departing ; and she prefers her bar- 
barian realms to thine." Still, though silent amid these re- 
proaches, I remember that full oft I offered my prayers to the 
adverse South winds ; and that often, placing my arms about 
to depart around thy neck, I rejoiced that the seas were 
heaved up into threatening billows. 

Nor should I fear to confess this before my father himself ; 
the power of so doing has been given me by thy kindness ; to 
say, " I left not dear Phyllis with an ungrateful heart, and 
I have not precipitately given my sails to be borne on by the 
ivinds. I wept too, and, full often, consoling her as she 
wept, I tarried on, when now a certain day had been fixed by 
me for my departure. At last, I came hither in a Thracian 
ship ; the bark which Phyllis was so unwilling 58 to give, she 
commanded to go at a slow speed. Pardon, too, the con- 
fession ; thou thyself dost bear in mind 59 the daughter of Mi- 
nos. That old flame has not yet quitted thy heart ; and so 
often as the stars surround thy eyes, thou dost say, 60 ' She, who 
now shines in the heavens, was my mistress.' " 

Bacchus ordered him to yield his dear wife up to himself ; 
but he incurs the charge of having deserted her. 61 After the 
example of my father, I too, myself, am called forsworn ; and, 

58 Was so unwilling.'] — Ver. 46. ' Non voluit' seems to be much prefer- 
able to ' non potuit,' which will hardly admit of any meaning. 

59 Thyself dost bear in mind.'] — Ver. 47. He is supposing himself to 
be pleading his own cause before Theseus, and to be recalling to his re- 
collection his own passion for Ariadne. 

60 Surround thy eyes, thou dost say.] — Ver. 49. The common reading 
1 circumdat sidera, dixit,' is evidently corrupt, as he is supposed to be still 
addressing Theseus in the second person. It is not improbable that the 
passage was written ' circumstant sidera, dixti :' and that reading has been 
adopted. 

61 Having deserted her.] — Ver. 52. He says that Theseus was un- 
justly accused of deserting Ariadne, when, in fact, he was ordered by 
Bacchus t' yield her to him ; and that he, in like manner, has been wrong- 
fully charged with similar perfidy. 



254 THE RESPONSIVE EPISTLES OE SABINTTS. [EP. II. 

cruel Sithonian fair, thou dost not inquire the cause of my 
delaying ; and thou dost not think that I give thee a sufficiently 
large assurance that I will return, if no love for another, no 
passion whatever is detaining me. And has no report, Phyllis, 
mentioned to thee the troubled home of Theseus and the for- 
tunes of his wretched house ? Dost thou not hear how I am be- 
wailing the halter 62 of my wretched mother ? A cause (ah 
me !) exists, more full of sorrow than that halter. Nor yet of 
my brother Hippolytus ? 63 Miserably has he perished, drag- 
ged headlong through the sea by his frightened steeds. 

Still I am not excusing myself from returning, though the 
Destinies should accumulate reasons from every quarter ; I 
ask but for a little time. What is left for me to do, my father 
Theseus will I first entomb ; 6i let him be becomingly placed 
in the sepulchre not without honour. Grant me time and 
pardon, I entreat; I am not absent through perfidiousness ; and 
now no land is more safe to me than is thy own. Whatever 
has been pleasing to me since Pergamus was levelled ; whatever 
either warfare or the delays of the ocean have been withhold- 
ing from me ; that is Thrace alone ; even in my very country 60 
am I buffeted about ; thou alone dost survive as my aid in 
my misfortunes. If only thou hast 66 the same feelings ; and 
if it does not elevate thee so much that thou hast a palace, 

62 Bewailing the halter."] — Ver. 59. He alludes to the fate of his 
mother Phsedra, who hanged herself on being unsuccessful in her criminal 
passion for Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, hy Hippolyta. He hints 
in the next line, that the cause of her suicide was a disgraceful one. 

6a Hippolytus.'] — Ver. 61. It is clear that a note of interrogation 
ought to be placed after ' Hippolytum,' though it is wanting in the com- 
mon reading of the text. His story is related in the Fifteenth Book of the 
Metamorphoses. 

64 Will I first entomb.] — Ver. 65. Theseus, on being expelled from 
Athens, fled to the court of Lycomedes, the king of Scyros ; where he was 
treacherously murdered by order of the king, or, as some say, he accident- 
ally fell from a cliff in the dark. 

55 In my very country.] — Ver. 71. 'In ipsa ' is suggested by Heinsius, 
with good reason, as being preferable to the usual reading, * in ilia.' 

66 If only thou hast.]— Ver. 73. The usual reading is evidently cor- 
rupt, and deficient in sense ; that suggested by Heinsius has been adopted. 

' Nee tarn quod sit tibi dives.' 

' Jam,' ' now,' is certainly incorrect, as there had been no change in 
the fortunes of Phvllis. 



EP. II.] DEMOPHOON TO PHYLLIS. 255 

rich, and not less than the Cecropian citadel ; and if the mis- 
fortunes of my father do not offend thee, nor the criminality 
of my mother ; and if Demophoon is not now of unhappy 
omen. 

What if, with thee for my wife, I had repaired to Troy, the 
city of Phoebus, and for ten years had so followed the pur- 
suits of war 1 Thou hast heard of Penelope ; over the whole 
world is she praised ; she who has become no slight example 
of a faithful wife. She, so rumour says, has invented the 
contrivance of the duteous web, and by her skill has put off 
the urgent suitors ; when by night 67 she has undone the threads 
that in their presence were hurried on towards comple- 
tion, and all the work has returned again to raw wool. But, 
Phyllis, thou art afraid lest the slighted Thracians should 
hereafter avoid an alliance with thee ; and canst thou, cruel 
one, marry any one of them ? And hast thou the heart to 
accept the offer 68 of any one ? And do not these apprehensions 
prove an obstacle to thy perfidiousness ? Alas ! how great will 
be thy shame at thy deeds ! Alas ! how great thy grief, when 
thou shalt behold my sails from afar ! Too late, in thy rash- 
ness, thou wilt condemn thy own complaints ! "Ah me !" wilt 
thou say, " after all, Demophoon was faithful to me ! Behold ! 
my Demophoon ! 69 and he has returned after having endured 
the raging East winds and the wintry waves as he ploughed 
the deep. Wretched me ! why, alas ! did I not know the 
guilty step which I was hastening ? I have broken that faith 
which I complained of as broken towards myself." 

And yet thus, 70 ah ! thus, mayst thou rather persist in thy 
determination, than that any further grief should, Phyllis, afflict 

67 When by night.'] — Ver. 83. Instead of the usual reading, ' nocti,' 
' noctu,' which is found in one edition, seems to be preferable. 

68 Accept the offer.~\ — Ver. 87. ' Accedere tsedae.' Literally, ' to ap- 
proach the nuptial torch.' 

fi9 Behold ! my Demophoon .'] — Ver. 93. Instead of the common read- 
ing, that of the edition of Gryphius seems preferable, and has been 
adopted ; 

1 En mihi Demophoon ! et saevos redditur Euros 
Passus, et hybernas dum freta sulcat, aquas !' 

70 And yet thus.] — Ver. 97. He tells her that he would rather that 
she should persist in a determination to contract a Thracian alliance, than 
that she should continue to torment herself on his account, and thus 
afford him cause for sorrow. 



256 THE RESPONSIVE EPISTLES OE SABINUS. [EP. III. 

my heart on thy account. Ah wretched me ! what halters, 
what death, art thou threatening against thyself ? How far 
too 71 ruthless Deities does that nation worship. Desist, I 
pray ; and do not, cruel fair, impress with a twofold mark 72 
the character of my house, that already incurs the charge 
of perfidiousness. Let the Gnossian fair, 73 left to her des- 
tiny and to become a prey to another, be the accuser of 
my father. I have not deserved myself to be considered 
guilty. 

Now let those winds bear my words, which have borne on- 
ward my sails. It is my intention to return ; but a reason of 
duty is detaining me. 



EPISTLE III. 

PARIS TO (ENONE. 

Paris is supposed to write this Epistle in his own defence, in answer to 
the one of Ovid, written by (Enone, in which she reproaches him for 
his inconstancy. 

I confess, Nymph, that my hand is in search of words, 
sufficiently well-suited for me to write in answer to thee 
making complaints so just. It seeks them, but they suggest 
themselves not. It is only sensible of its own criminality. That 
which it is sensible of, another passion allows it not to atone for. 
If this confession mitigates thy wrath, then, myself the judge, 
I am condemned. What matters it ? Still, with thy cause the 
better one, thou art vanquished. 74 

Condemned, too, by thee, Cupid brings me back under his 

71 How far too.] — Ver. 100. ' Ut nimis/ as suggested by Heinsius, 
seems better than ' et nimis' ; with either reading, the meaning is ob- 
scure, and the passage probably corrupt. He, perhaps, means to say, 
that as the Thracian Gods were of ferocious manners, their worshippers 
were too apt to imitate them and to seek to gain their favour by precipi- 
tate and violent conduct, such as suicide. 

72 A twofold mark.~\ — Ver. 102. He implores her not to censure him 
for treachery, as the conduct of Theseus is already open to that charge. 

73 The Gnossian fair.'] — Ver. 104. This line seems to be in a corrupt 
state. The reading of the edition of Gryphius has been here adopted, ' Accu- 
set patrem fatis praedseque relicta/ as approaching the nearest to any de- 
finite sense. 

74 Thou art vanquished."] — Ver. 6. 'Cales' is evidently a corrupt 
reading. At the suggestion of Burmann, ' cadis ' has been adopted. 



EP. III.] PARIS TO (ENONE. 257 

own subjection : and thus am I the prize of another. 75 First 
wast thou engaged for my bed, and my love acknowledged 
its youthfulness on receiving thee first for a wife. Not as 
yet was I so great a person. Then could I have been claimed 
by him as my master, of whom for my father thou dost 
blame me 'as being proud. I hoped not for Deiphobus or 
Hector as a brother, when, thou accompanying me, I drove 
the flocks to pasture ; Hecuba, too, I knew by the name of 
queen, 76 and not of mother ; and worthy wast thou to re- 
main her daughter-in-law. But Love is not endowed with 
reason. Nymph, consult thyself. 77 Thou hast been wronged ; 
but, though wronged, thou writest that thou still dost love. 
And whereas the Satyrs, whereas the Pans seek thy hand, 
still art thou ever mindful of thy rejected alliance. 

Besides, this passion is promoted by the Fates, and long 
since did my sister, 7S prescient of the future, see it. Not 
yet had the name of the daughter of Tyndarus reached my ear, 
and still she prophesied that a Grecian alliance 79 would invite 
me. All this thou seest hast come to pass ; my wounds alone 
survive ; and the fact that I am forced suppliantly to entreat 
thy aid. 80 In thy power is the decision upon my life and my 
death ; now as the conqueror 81 hear my confessions. Still, 
as I remember, thou didst weep at these words as she pro- 
phesied ; and thou didst say, " May these evils, I pray, be afar 
off. Neither, if the Fates ordain it, nor though other things 
should ordain it, could I, afflicted (Enone, endure to lose my 
Paris." 



75 Of another.] — Ver. 8. Of Helen, namely. 

76 Name of queen.'] — Ver. 15. The usual reading of this line is evi- 
dently corrupt, and void of sense, Heinsius suggests ' Reginasque Hecu- 
ben non matris nomine, noram,' which reading has been adopted. 

77 Consult thyself] — Ver. 17. As to the truth of the allegation, that 
love is not ruled by reason. 

78 Did my sister.] — Ver. 22. He pleads the decrees of fate, which 
were long since revealed by his sister Cassandra. 

79 A Grecian alliance.] — Ver. 24. Instead of the common reading for 
this line, which is manifestly corrupt, the following has been adopted : 
1 Me cecinit Graios ilia vocare toros.' 

60 Entreat thy aid.] — Ver. 26. Because she was prescient of the future. 

81 As the conqueror.] — Ver. 28. Heinsius considers this line to be 
hopelessly corrupt. ' Victurae,' as found in the earliest edition of the 
author, is probably more correct than ' victuri.' 



258 THE RESPONSIVE EPISTLES OF SAEINITS. [EP. III. 

The same love which (grant me pardon) compels me to 
subdue my many apprehensions and not to believe this., is 
deceiving thee as well. He rules the Deities ; when he 
chooses, he humbles Jove to the horns of a bull, 82 when he 
chooses, to the feathers of a bird. There would be no daughter 
of Tyndarus on the earth wondrous for beauty so great, (a 
fair, alas ! born for my destruction !) if Jupiter had not 
changed his features for those of the swan. 

Before this, he had flowed as a shower of gold into the bosom 
of Danae; as a fictitious bird 83 he had surveyed the pine-bearing 
Ida, and he had stood among the cattle of Agenor. Who 
could have thought that victorious Alcides would hold the task 
allotted by his mistress ? 84 But it was Love that forced him to 
spin. He is said, too, to have sat s5 in the Coan garment 86 of the 
damsel ; she was covered with the skin of the lion of Cleonse. 87 
I remember, (Enone, (I speak to my own disparagement) that 
thou didst fly from Phoebus, and didst prefer my embraces. 
I was not preferable to Phoebus ; but Cupid was determined 
that on these conditions his arrows should be launched against 
thee. Still, alleviate thy misfortunes in a rival worthy of 
thyself; the fair whom I have preferred to thee, is the daughter 

83 The horns of a bull.'] — Ver. 35. He means the change of Jupiter 
into a bull, when enamoured of Europa, and into a swan, for the purpose 
of deceiving Leda. 

83 A fictitious bird.] — Ver. 41. He alludes to the ravishment of Gany- 
mede, which was said to have been effected by Jupiter on Mount Ida, in 
the form, of an eagle. 

84 By Ms mistress.'] — Ver. 44. He alludes either to Omphale or Iole ; 
with both of which amours Deianira reproaches him in her Epistle. 

85 To have sat.] — Ver. 45. Probably she alludes here to Omphale and 
the story related in the Second Book of the Fasti. 

86 In the Coan garment .] — Ver. 45. The Coan cloth was remarkable 
for its extreme fineness and transparency, and is mentioned by both 
Horace, Tibullus, and Propertius. In the Augustan age it was probably 
only worn by women of light reputation, as every feature of the body 
could be discerned through it. It was sometimes of a purple colour, 
and adorned with gold embroidery. It is supposed to have been made 
of silk, as the island of Cos, in the iEgean sea, was famous for the weaving 
and spinning of silk at a very early period. ' Silk gauze ' is probably the 
proper name for the texture. A female of the name of Pamphila was 
said to have invented it. 

8 ? The lion of Cleon(B.]—Yer. 46. Cleonas was a town on the borders 
of Argolis in Peloponnesus, near the wood in which Hercules killed the 
Nemean lion, which is here referred to. 



EP. III.] PA.MS TO CEtfOKE. 259 

of Jove. But that she is born of Jove, affects me in her the 
least of all; that there is not any face more beauteous than 
hers, does the mischief. 

And I wish that I had been deemed an unskilful judge of 
beauty, Nymph of the streams, on the heights of Ida ! No 
wrath of Juno nor yet of Pallas would have persecuted me, be- 
cause Cytherea was commended by my eyes. For others she 
divides the flame both rapid and mutually burning ; just as 
she pleases she modifies the fires of her son. And yet she 
was not able to avoid the weapons of her own house. The 
bow which 88 she wielded against others, unrelenting, she 
wielded too against herself. Her husband grieved that she was 
detected with Mars. The Gods being witnesses, to Jove did 
he complain. And next does Mars now grieve, and of his own 
accord he leaves the earth ; about to have him 89 as her own, 
she has preferred Anchises to him. For the sake of Anchises 
has she wished to appear beauteous ; and twice has she pined, 90 
taking vengeance on the slighted Gods. What wonder that 
it was possible for Paris to yield to Love, from whom even his 
own mother was not safe ? Her whom injured Menelaiis loves, 
uninjured do I love. 91 Add the fact, that she was the com- 
panion of me thus uninjured. 

Carried off, she prepares (I see) for me vast troubles ; and 
a thousand armed ships are making for Troy. I do not fear 
that the cause of the war will not be approved of ; she has 
features worthy to arouse the chieftains. If thou believest me 
not, look at the sons of Atreus in arms. She, whom in such 
manner they are attempting to recover for themselves, in such 
manner must be retained 92 for me. But if thou dost conceive 

88 The bow which.'] — Ver. 62. This line appears to be in a corrupt 
state. 

89 About to have him.'] — Ver. 66. Of course this must refer to a time 
long since past ; as at this period Anchises was an aged man. 

90 Twice has she pined.] — Ver. 68. This line appears as ' Visaque post- 
latam jacuit ulta Deam,' which is evidently corrupt, and makes perfect 
nonsense. The suggestion of Heinsius has been adopted : ' Bisque ita 
post latos marcuit ulta Deos.' 

91 Uninjured do I love.] — Ver. 71. His meaning seems to be, that Me- 
nelaiis, though injured, still loves Helen ; how much more then must he, 
who has received no injury, but, on the contrary, a return of affection 
from her ? 

92 Must be retained.] — Ver. 78. The common reading is ' metuenda/ 

S2 



260 THE KESPONSIYE EPISTLES OF SABIFUS. [EP. III. 

any hopes of changing this determination, why are thy herbs or 
thy charms unemployed ? For no female is more skilled than 
thee in the arts of Phoebus ; and thou dost behold the true 
visions of Hecate, the sister of Phoebus. I remember that thou 93 
didst bring down the Moon covered with clouds, together with 
the stars, and that thou didst withdraw the light of day. I was 
feeding my bulls ; and I was amazed that at thy voice the tamed 
lions went amid the herds. Why should I add that Xanthus, 
called back, Simois, called back, did not keep on their course ? 
Thy father Cebren 94 himself, not in safety from the words of 
his daughter, how often has he stood still amid his charmed 
waves ? 

Now is the opportunity for CEnone, now display her ; whe- 
ther thou shalt attempt to dispel my passion or thine own. 

which is clearly objectionable. ' Retinenda,' as suggested by Heinsius, is 
decidedly preferable 

93 I remember that thou."] — Ver. 83. This line is evidently corrupt. 
Heinsius suggests ' Te cum sideribus tectam deducere lunam,' which has 
been adopted. 

94 Thy father Cebren."] — Ver. 89. (Enone was said to be the daughter 
of the river Cebren or Cebrenus, who was also the sire of the Nymph 
Hesperie, beloved by iEsacus, and mentioned in the Eleventh Book of 
the Metamorphoses, 1. 769. 



THE AMORES; OR, AMOURS. 



BOOK THE FIRST. 



AN EPIGRAM ON THE AMOURS. 

We who of late were five books 1 of Naso, are now hut three : 
this work our author has preferred to the former one. Though 
it should 2 now be no pleasure to thee to read us ; still, the 
labour will be less, the two being removed. 



ELEGY I. 

He says that he is compelled by Cupid to write of love instead of battles ; 
and that the Divinity insists on making each second Hexameter line 
into a Pentameter. 

I was preparing to write of arms and impetuous warfare in 
serious numbers, 3 the subject-matter being suited to the mea- 
sure. 4 The second verse was of equal measure ivith the first ; 
but Cupid is said to have smiled, and to have abstracted one 
foot. 5 "■ Who, cruel boy, has given thee this right over my 
lines ? We poets are the choir of the Muses, the Pierian maids, 

1 Were Jive boohs."]— rVer. 1. From this it is clear, that the first edi- 
tion which Ovid gave to the public of his ' Amores ' was in five Books ; 
but that on revising his work, he preferred (prastulit) these three books 
to the former five. It is supposed that he rejected many of those Elegies 
which were of too free a nature and were likely to embroil him with 
the authorities, by reason of their licentiousness. 

2 Though it should.'] — Ver. 3. Burmann has rightly observed, that 
4 ut jam/ in this line, has exactly the force of ' quamvis,' ' although.' 

3 In serious numbers.] — Ver. 1. By the ' graves numeri,' he means 
Heroic or Hexameter verses. It is supposed that he alludes to the battle 
of the Giants or the Titans, on which subject he had begun to write an 
heroic poem. In these lines Ovid seems to have had in view the com- 
mencement of the first Ode of Anacreon. 

4 Suited to the measure.] — "Ver. 2. The subject being of a grave cha- 
racter, and, as such, suited to Heroic measure. 

5 Abstracted one foot.] — Ver. 4. He says that every second line (as 
is the case in Heroic verse) had as many feet as the first, namely, six : but 
that Cupid stole a foot from the Hexameter, and reduced it to a Penta- 
meter, whereby the Poet was forced to recur to the Elegiac measure. 



262 THE AMOEES ; [b. I. 

not thine. "What if Venus were to seize the arms of the 
yellow-haired Minerva, and if the yellow-haired Minerva were 
to wave the lighted torches of Love ? Who would approve of 
Ceres holding her reign in the woods on the mountain ridges, 
or of the fields being tilled under the control of the quivered 
Virgin ■? Who would arm Phoebus, graceful with his locks, 
with the sharp spear, while Mars is striking the Aonian 
lyre ? Thy sway, youth, is great, and far too potent ; 
why, in thy ambition, dost thou attempt a new task 1 Is that 
which is everywhere, thine ? Is Heliconian Tempe thine ? Is 
even his own lyre hardly safe now for Phoebus ? When the 
new page has made a good beginning in the first line, at that 
moment does he diminish my energies. 8 I have no subject 
fitted for these lighter numbers, whether youth, or girl with 
her flowing locks arranged." 

Thus was I complaining ; when, at once, his quiver loosen- 
ed, 9 he selected the arrows made for my destruction ; and he 
stoutly bent upon his knee the curving bow, and said, " Poet, 
receive a subject on which to sing." Ah wretched me ! un- 
erring arrows did that youth possess. I burn ; and in my 
heart, hitherto disengaged, does Love hold sway. Henceforth, 
in six feet 10 let my work commence ; in five let it close. Fare- 
well, ye ruthless wars, together with your numbers. My Muse, 11 
to eleven feet destined to be attuned, bind with the myrtle of 
the sea shore thy temples encircled with their yellow locks. 

8 Diminish my energies.'] — Ver. 18. See the Note to the fourth line. 

9 His quiver loosened.'] — Ver. 21. The ' pharetra,' or quiver, filled with 
arrows, was used by most of the nations that excelled in archery, among 
whom were the Scythians, Persians, Lycians, Thracians, and Cretans. 
It was made of leather, and was sometimes adorned with gold or paint- 
ing. It had a lid, and was suspended by a belt from the right shoulder. 
Its usual position was on the left hip, and it was thus worn by the Scy- 
thians and Egyptians. The Cretans, however, wore it behind the back, 
and Diana, in her statues, is represented as so doing. This must have 
been the method in which Cupid is intended in the present instance 
to wear it, as he has to unloose the quiver before he takes out the arrow. 
Some Commentators, however, would have ' soluta ' to refer simply to the 
act of opening the quiver. 

10 In six feet.] — Ver. 27. He says that he must henceforth write in 
Hexameters and Pentameters, or, in other words, in the Elegiac measure. 

11 My Muse.] — Ver. 30. The Muse addressed by him would be Erato, 
under whose protection were those Poets whose theme was Love. He bids 
her wreathe her hair with myrtle, because it was sacred to Venus ; while, 
on the other hand, laurels would be better adapted to the Heroic Muse. 
The myrtle is said to love the moisture and coolness of the sea-shore. 



E. II.] OB, AMOURS. 263 

ELEGY II. 

He says, that being taken captive by Love, he allows Cupid to lead him 
away in triumph. 

Why shall I say it is, that my bed appears thus hard to me, 
and that my clothes rest not upon the couch ? The night, 
too, long as it is, have I passed without sleep ; and why 
do the weary bones of my restless body ache ? But were 
I assailed by any flame, I think I should be sensible of 
it. Or does Love come unawares and cunningly attack in 
silent ambush ? 'Tis so ; his little arrows have pierced my 
heart ; and cruel Love is tormenting the breast he has seized. 
Am I to yield 1 Or by struggling against it, am I to in- 
crease this sudden flame? I must yield; the burden becomes 
light which is borne contentedly. I have seen the flames in- 
crease when agitated by waving the torch ; and when no 
one shook it, I have seen them die away. The galled bulls 
suffer more blows while at first they refuse the yoke, than 
those whom experience of the plough avails. The horse 
which is unbroken bruises his mouth with the hard curb ; the 
one that is acquainted with arms is less sensible of the bit. 
Love goads more sharply and much more cruelly those who 
struggle, than those who agree to endure his servitude. Lo ! 
I confess it ; I am thy new-made prey, Cupid ; I am ex- 
tending my conquered hands for thy commands. No war 
between us is needed ; I entreat for peace and for pardon ; and 
no credit shall I be to thee, unarmed, conquered by thy 
arms. Bind thy locks with myrtle ; yoke thy mother's doves ; 
thy stepfather 1 * himself will give a chariot which becomes thee. 
And in the chariot so given thee, thou shalt stand, and with 
thy skill shalt guide the birds so yoked 15 , while the people 
shout " lo triumphe" 16 aloud. The captured youths and the 
captive fair shall be led in triumph ; this procession shall be a 
splendid triumph for thee. 

14 Thy step-father.'] — Ver. 24. He calls Mars the step-father of Cupid, 
in consequence of his intrigue with Venus. 

15 Birds so yoked.] — Ver. 26. These are the doves which were sacred 
to Venus and Cupid. By yoking them to the chariot of Mars, the Poet 
wishes to show the skill and power of Cupid. 

16 lo triumphe.] — Ver. 25. ' Clamare triumphum,' means ' to shout 
lo triumphe,' as the procession moves along. Lactantius speaks of a 
poem called ' the Triumph of Cupid,' in which Jupiter and the other Gods 
were represented as following him in the triumphal procession. 



264 THE AHOEES ; [b. I. 

I myself, a recent capture, shall bear my wound so lately 
made ; and with the feelings of a captive shall I endure thy 
recent chains. Soundness of Understanding shall be led 
along with hands bound behind his back, Shame as well, and 
whatever beside is an enemy to the camp of Love. All things 
shall stand in awe of thee : towards thee the throng, stretch- 
ing forth its hands, shall sing " Io triumphe " with loud 
voice. Caresses shall be thy attendants, Error too, and Mad- 
ness, a troop that ever follows on thy side. With these 
for thy soldiers, thou dost overcome both men and Gods ; 
take away from thee these advantages, and thou wilt be help- 
less. From highest Olympus thy joyous mother will applaud 
thee in thy triumph, and will sprinkle her roses falling on thy 
face. While gems bedeck thy wings, and gems thy hair ; in thy 
golden chariot shalt thou go, resplendent thyself with gold. 17 

Then too, (if well I know thee) wilt thou influence not a 
few ; then too, as thou passest by, wilt thou inflict many a 
wound. Thy arrows (even shouldst thou thyself desire it) 
cannot be at rest. A glowing flame ever injures by the pro- 
pinquity of its heat. Just such was Bacchus when the Gan- 
getic land 18 was subdued ; thou art the burden of the birds ; he 
was that of the tigers. Therefore, since I may be some portion 
of thy hallowed triumph, forbear, Conqueror, to expend thy 
strength on me. Look at the prospering arms of thy kinsman 
Csesar ; 19 with the same hand with which he conquers does he 
shield the conquered. 20 



ELEGY III. 

He entreats his mistress to return his affection, and shows that he is 
deserving of her favour. 

I ask for what is just ; let the fair who has so lately captivated 

V Thyself with gold.] — Ver. 42. The poet Moschus represents Cupid 
as having wings of gold. 

18 The Gangetic land.] — Ver. 47. He alludes to the Indian triumphs 
of Bacchus, which extended to the river Ganges. 

19 Thy kinsman Ccesar.] — Ver. 51. Because Augustus, as the adopted 
son of Julius Caesar, was said to be descended from Venus, through the 
line of iEneas. 

20 Shield the conquered.] — Ver. 52. Although Augustus had many 
faults, it must be admitted that he was, like Julius, a most merciful con- 
queror, and was generally averse to bloodshed. 



E. III.] OE, AMOUES. 265 

me, either love me, or let her give me a cause why I should 
always love her. Alas ! too much have I desired ; only let her 
allow herself to be loved ; and then Cytherea will have listened 
to my prayers so numerous. Accept one who will be your 
servant through lengthened years ; accept one who knows how 
to love with constant attachment. If the great names of ancient 
ancestors do not recommend me, or if the Equestrian founder 
of my family 21 fails to do so; and if no field of mine is 
renewed by ploughs innumerable, and each of my parents 22 
with frugal spirit limits my expenditure ; still Phoebus and 
his nine companions and the discoverer of the vine may do so ; 
and Love besides, who presents me as a gift to you ; a fidelity, 
too that will yield to none, manners above reproach, ingenu- 
ousness without guile, and modesty ever able to blush. 

A thousand damsels have no charms for me ; I am no rover 
in affection ; 23 you will for ever be my choice, if you do but 
believe me. May it prove my lot to live with you for years 
as many as the threads of the Sister Destinies shall grant me, 
and to die with you sorrowing for me. Grant me yourself 
as a delightful theme for my verse ; worthy of their matter 
my lines will flow. Io, frightened by her horns, and she 
whom the adulterer deceived in the shape of the bird 24 of the 
stream have a name in song ; she, too, who, borne over the seas 
upon the fictitious bull, held fast the bending horns with her 
virgin hand. We, too, together shall be celebrated through- 
out all the world ; and my name shall ever be united with thy 
own. 

21 Founder of my family .] — Ver. 8. See che Life of Ovid prefixed to 
the Fasti ; and the Second Book of the Tristia. 

22 Each of my parents. .] — Ver. 10. From this it appears that this 
Elegy was composed during the life-time of both of his parents, and while, 
probably, he was still dependent on his father. 

23 No rover in affection.'] — Ver. 15. • Desultor,' literally means 'one 
who leaps off.' The figure is derived from those equestrians who rode 
upon several horses, or guided several chariots, passing from the one to 
the other. This sport was very frequently exhibited in the Roman Circus. 
Among the Romans, the ' desultor' generally wore a ' pileus/ or cap of 
felt. The Numidian, Scythian, and Armenian soldiers, were said to have 
been skilled in the same art. 

24 Of the Wrrf.]— Ver. 22. He alludes to Leda and Europa. 



266 THE AMOKES ; [B. I. 

ELEGY IV. 

He instructs his mistress what conduct to observe in the presence of her 
husband at a feast to which he has been invited, 

Yotje husband is about to come to the same banquet 26 as 
ourselves : I pray that it may be the last meal 27 for this 
husband of yours. And am I then only as a guest to 
look upon the fair so much beloved ? And shall there be 
another, to take pleasure in being touched by youl And 
will you, conveniently placed below, be keeping warm the 
bosom of another ? 28 And shall he, when he pleases, be placing 
his hand upon your neck ? Cease to be surprised that the 
beauteous damsel of Atrax 29 excited the two-formed men to 
combat when the wine was placed on table. No wood is my 
home, and my limbs adhere not to those of a horse ; yet I seem 
to be hardly able to withhold my hands from you. Learn, 
however, what must be done by you ; and do not give my 
injunctions to be borne away by the Eastern gales, nor on the 
warm winds of the South. 

26 The same banquet."] — Ver. 1. He says that they are about to meet 
at ' ccena,' at the house of a common friend. 

27 The last meal.'] — Ver. 2. The ' ccena' of the Romans is usually 
translated by the word ' supper' ; but as being the chief meal of the day, 
and being in general, (at least during the Augustan age) taken at about 
three o'clock, it really corresponds to our ' dinner.' 

28 Warm the bosom of another."] — Ver. 5. As each guest while re- 
clining on the couch at the entertainment, mostly leaned on his left elbow 
during the meal, and as two or more persons lay on the same couch, the 
bead of one person reached to the breast of him who lay above him, and 
the lower person was said to lie on the bosom of the other. Among the 
Romans, the usual number of persons occupying each couch was three. 
Sometimes, however, four occupied one couch ; Avhile, among the Greeks, 
only two reclined upon it. In this instance, he describes the lady as oc- 
cupying the place below her husband, and consequently warming his breast 
with her head. For a considerable time after the fashion of reclining at 
meals had been introduced into Rome, the Roman ladies sat at meals 
while the other sex was recumbent. Indeed, it was generally considered 
more becoming for females to be seated, especially if it was a party where 
many persons, were present. Juvenal, however, represents a bride as 
reclining at the marriage supper on the bosom of her husband. On the 
present occasion, it is not very likely that the ladies were particular about 
the more rigid rules of etiquette. It must be remembered that before lying 
down, the shoes or sandals were taken orT. 

29 Damsel of Atrax.] — Ver- 8. He alludes to the marriage of Hippo- 
damia to Pirithous, and the battle between the Centaurs and the Lapithae, 
described in the Twelfth Book of the Metamorphoses. 



E. IV.] OE, AMOUItS. 267 

Come before your husband ; and yet, T do not see what 
can be done, if you do come first ; but still, do come first. 31 
When he presses the couch, with modest air you will be going 
as his companion, to recline by him ; then secretly touch my 
foot. 32 Keep your eye on me, and my nods and the expression 
of my features ; apprehend my secret signs, 33 and yourself re- 
turn them. Without utterance will I give expression to words 
by my eyebrows ; 34 you shall read words traced by my fingers, 
words traced in the wine. 35 When the delights of our dal- 
liance recur to your thoughts, press your blooming cheeks 36 
with your beauteous finger. If there shall be anything, of 
which you may be making complaint about me silently in 
your mind, let your delicate hand reach from the extremity of 
your ear. When, my life, I shall either do or say aught 
which shall give you delight, let your ring be continually 
twisted on your fingers. 37 

31 Do come first.'] — Ver. 14. He hardly knows why he asks her to do 
so, but still she must come before her husband ; perhaps, that he may 
have the pleasure of gazing upon her without the chance of detection ; 
the more especially as she would not recline till her husband had arrived, 
and would, till then, probably be seated. 

32 Touch my foot.] — Ver. 16. This would show that she had safely re- 
ceived his letter. 

33 My secret signs.] — Ver. 18. See the Note in this Volume, to the 
90th line of the 17th Epistle. 

34 By my eye-brows.] — Ver. 19. See the 82nd line of the 17th Epistle. 

35 Traced in the wine.] — Ver. 20. See the 88th line of the 17th Epistle. 
33 Your blooming cheeks.] — Ver. 22. Probably by way of check to his 

want of caution. 

37 Twisted on your fingers.] — Ver. 26. The Sabines were the first to in- 
troduce the practice of wearing rings among the Romans. The Romans 
generally wore one ring, at least, and mostly upon the fourth finger of the 
left hand. Down to the latest period of the Republic, the rings were 
mostly of iron, and answered the 'purpose of a signet. The right of 
wearing a gold ring remained for several centuries the exclusive privilege 
of Senators, Magistrates, and Knights. The emperors were not very 
scrupulous on whom they conferred the privilege of wearing the gold ring, 
and Severus and Aurelian gave the right to all Roman soldiers. Vain per- 
sons who had the privilege, literally covered their fingers with rings, so 
much so, that Quintilian thinks it necessary to warn the orator not to have 
them above the middle joint of the fingers. The rings and the gems set 
in them, were often of extreme beauty and value. From Juvenal and Mar- 
tial we learn that the coxcombs of the day had rings for both winter and 
summer wear. They were kept in ' dactyliotheccC,' or ring boxes, where 
they were ranged in a row. 



268 THE AMOEES ; [b. I. 

Take hold of the table with your hand, in the way in which 
those who are in prayer 38 take hold of the altar, when you 
shall be wishing many an evil for your husband, who so well 
deserves it. The cup which he has mixed for you, if you are 
discreet, 39 bid him drink himself ; then, in a low voice, do you 
ask the servant 41 for what wine you wish. I will at once take 
the cup which you have put down ; 42 and where you have 
sipped, on that side will I drink. If, perchance, he shall give 
you any morsels, of which he has tasted beforehand, reject 
them thus touched by his mouth. 43 And do not allow him to 
press your neck, by putting his arms around it ; nor recline 
your gentle head on his unsightly breast. 44 Let not your 
bosom, or your breasts so close at hand, 45 admit his fingers ; and 
especially allow him to give you no kisses. If you do give him 
any kisses, I shall be discovered to be your lover, and I shall 
say, " Those art my own," and shall be laying hands upon him. 

Still, this I shall be able to see ; but what the clothing care- 
fully conceals, the same will be a cause for me of apprehension 
full of doubts. Touch not his thigh with yours, and cross 
not legs with him, and do not unite your delicate foot with his 
uncouth leg. To my misery, I am apprehensive of many a 
thing, because many a thing have I done in my wantonness ; 
and I myself am tormented, through fear of my own precedent. 

33 Who are in prayer."] — Ver. 27. It was the custom to hold the altar 
while the suppliant was praying to the Deities ; he here directs her, while 
she is mentally uttering imprecations against her husband, to fancy that 
the table is the altar, and to take hold of it accordingly. 

39 If you are discreet.] — Ver. 29. • Sapias ' is put for 'si sapias,' ' if 
you are discreet,' ' if you would act sensibly.' 

41 Ask the servant.'} — Ver. 30. This would be the slave, whose office 
it was to mix the wine and water to the taste of the guests. He was called 
oivoxooQ by the Greeks, ' pincerna' by the Romans. 

42 Which you have put down.} — Ver. 31. That is, which she either 
puts upon the table, or gives back to the servant, when she has drunk. 

43 Touched by his mouth.] — Ver. 34. This would appear to refer to 
some choice morsel picked out of the husband's plate, which, as a mark of 
attention, he might present to her. 

44 On his unsightly breast.] — Ver. 36. This, from her position, if she 
reclined below her husband, she would be almost obliged to do. 

45 So close at hand.] — Ver. 37. A breach of these injunctions would 
imply either a very lax state of etiquette at the Roman parties, or, what is 
more probable, that the present company was not of a very select cha- 
racter. 



S. IV.] OB, AMOUES. 269 

Oft by joining hands beneath the cloth, 48 have my mistress and 
I forestalled our hurried delights. This, I am sure, you will 
not do for him ; but that you may not even be supposed to 
do so, take away the conscious covering 49 from your bosom. 
Bid your husband drink incessantly, but let there be no 
kisses with your entreaties ; and while he is drinking, if you 
can, add wine by stealth. 50 If he shall be soundly laid asleep 
with dozing and wine, circumstances and opportunity will give 
us fitting counsel. When you shall rise to go home, we all 
will rise as well ; and remember that you walk in the middle 
rank of the throng. In that rank you will either find me, or 
be found by me ; and whatever part of me you can there 
touch, mind and touch. 

Ah wretched me ! I have given advice to be good for but a 
few hours ; then, at the bidding of night, I am separated from 
my mistress. At night her husband will lock her in ; I, sad 
with my gushing tears, will follow her as far as I may, even 
to her obdurate door. And now will he be snatching a kiss ; 
and now not kisses only will he snatch ; you will be com- 
pelled to grant him that, which by stealth you grant to me. 
But grant him this (you can do so) with a bad grace, 
and like one acting by compulsion ; let no caresses be heard ; 
and let Venus prove inauspicious. If my wishes avail, I 
trust, too, that he will find no satisfaction therein ; but if other- 
wise, still at least let it have no delights for you. But, however, 
whatever luck may attend upon the night, assure me in posi- 
tive language to-morrow, that you did not dally with him. 



ELEGY V. 

The beauties of Corinna. 
'Twas summer time, 51 and the day had passed the hour of noon; 

48 Beneath the cloth.] — Ver. 48. ' Vestis' means a covering, or cloth- 
ing for anything, as for a couch, or for tapestry. Let us charitably sup- 
pose it here to mean the table cloth ; as the passage will not admit of 
further examination, and has of necessity been somewhat modified in the 
translation. 

49 The conscious covering.'] — Ver. 50. The ' pallia,' here mentioned, are 
clearly the coverlets of the couch which he has before mentioned in the 
41st line; and from this it is evident, that during the repast the guests were 
covered with them. 

60 Add wine by stealth.] — Ver. 52. To make him fall asleep the sooner. 

51 'Twas summer time.] — Ver. 1. In all hot climates it is the custom 

to repose in the middle of the day. This the Spaniards call the ' siesta.' 



2/0 THE AMORES ; [B. I. 

v)hen I threw my limbs to be refreshed on the middle of the 
couch. A part of the window 53 was thrown open, the other 
part shut ; the light was such as the woods are wont to 
have ; just as the twilight glimmers, when Phoebus is re- 
treating ; or as when the night has gone, and still the day is 
not risen. Such light should be given to the bashful fair, in 
which coy modesty may hope to have concealment. 

Behold ! Corinna 54 came, clothed in a tunic 55 hanging loose, 
her flowing hair 56 covering her white neck ; just such as the 

53 A part of the window.'] — Ver. 3. On the ' fenestra/ or windows of 
the ancients, see the Notes to the Pontic Epistles, Book iii. Ep. iii. 1. 5, 
and to the Metamorphoses, Book xiv. 1. 752. He means that one leaf of 
the window was open, and one shut. 

54 Corinna.]— Ver. 9. In the Fourth Book of the Tristia, Elegy x. 1. 60, 
be says, ' Corinna, (so called by a fictitious name) the subject of song 
through the whole city, had imparted a stimulus to my genius.' It has 
been supposed by some Commentators, that under this name he meant Julia, 
either the daughter or the grand-daughter of the emperor Augustus, but 
there seems really to be no ground for such a belief ; indeed, the daughter 
of Augustus had passed middle age, when Ovid was still in boyhood. 
It is most probable that Corinna was only an ideal personage, existing in 
the imagination of the Poet ; and that he intended the name to apply to his 
favourite mistress for the time being, as, though he occasionally denies it, 
still, at other times, he admits that his passion was of the roving kind. 
There are two females mentioned in history of the name of Corinna. One 
was a Theban poetess, who excelled in Lyric composition, and was said 
to have vanquished Pindar himself in a Lyric contest ; while the other 
was a native of Thespiae, in Boeotia. The former, who was famous for both 
her personal charms and her mental endowments, is supposed to have sug- 
gested the use of the name to Ovid. 

55 Clothed in a tunic.'] — Ver. 9. ' Tunica' was the name of the under- 
garment with both sexes among the Romans. "When the wearer was out of 
doors, or away from home, it was fastened round the waist with a belt or 
girdle, but when at home and wishing to be entirely at ease, it was, as in the 
present instance, loose or ungirded. Both sexes usually wore two tunics. 
In female dress, Varro seems to call the outer tunic ' subucula,' and the 
' interior tunica' by the name also of ' indusium.' The outer tunic 
was also called ' stola,' and, with the ' palla' completed the female 
dress. The ' tunica interior,' or what is here called ' tunica,' was a 
simple shift, and in early times had no sleeves. According to Nonius, it 
fitted loosely on the body, and was not girded when the b stola' or outer 
tunic was put on. Poor people, who could not afford to purchase a ' toga,' 
wore the tunic alone ; whence we find the lower classes called by the 
name of ' tunicati.' 

56 Her flowing hair.] — Ver. 10. 'Dividuis,' here means, that her hair 
was scattered, flowing over her shoulders and not arranged on the head 
in a knot. 



E. VI. J OE, AMOURS. 271 

beauteous Semiramis 57 is said to have entered her chamber, and 
Lais, 58 beloved by many a hero. I drew aside the tunic ; 
in its thinness 59 it was but a small impediment ; still, to be 
covered with the tunic did she strive ; and, as she struggled 
as though she was not desirous to conquer, without difficulty 
was she overcome, through betrayal of herself. When, her 
clothing laid aside, she stood before my eyes, throughout her 
whole body nowhere was there a blemish. What shoulders, 
what arms I both saw and touched ! The contour of her breast, 
how formed was it to be pressed ! How smooth her stomach 
beneath her faultless bosom ! How full and how beauteous 
her sides ! How plump with youthfulness the thigh ! But why 
enlarge on every point ? Nothing did I behold not worthy of 
praise ; and I pressed her person even to my own. 

The rest, who knows not ? Wearied, we both reclined. May 
such a midday often prove my lot. 



ELEGY VI. 
He entreats the porter to open to him the door of his mistress's house. 

Porter, fastened (and how unworthily !) with the cruel fet- 
ter, 60 throw open the stubborn door with its turning hinge. 
What I ask, is but a trine ; let the door, half-opened, admit 
me sideways with its narrow passage. Protracted Love has 

57 Semiramis.'] — Ver. 11. Semiramis was the wife of Ninus, king of 
Babylon, and was famous for her extreme beauty, and the talent which she 
displayed as a ruler. She was also as unscrupulous in her morals as the 
fair one whom the Poet is now describing. 

58 And Lais. ] — Ver. 12. There are generally supposed to have been 
two famous courtesans of the name of Lais. The first was carried 
captive, when a child, from Sicily, in the second year of the 91st Olym- 
piad, and being taken to Corinth, became famous throughout Greece for 
her extreme beauty, and the high price she put upon her favours. Many 
of the richest and most learned men resorted to her, and became smitten 
by her charms. The second Lais was the daughter of Alcibiades, by his 
mistress, Tiinandra. When Demosthenes applied for a share of her 
favours, she made the extravagant demand of ten thousand drachmae, upon 
which, regaining his wisdom (which had certainly forsaken him for a 
time) he said that he would not purchase repentance at so high a price. 

59 In its thinness.] — Ver. 13. Possibly it was made of Coan cloth, if 
Corinna was as extravagant as she was vicious. 

60 The cruel fetter.] — Ver. 1. Among the Romans, the porter was 
frequently bound by a chain to his post, that he might not forsake it. 



2/2 THE AMOBES; [jB. I. 

made my body thin for such an emergency, and by dimi- 
nishing my bulk, has rendered my limbs quite supple. 'Tis 
he who shows me how to go softly amid the watches of the 
keepers ; 62 'tis he directs my feet that meet no harm. But, at 
one time, I used to be afraid of the night and imaginary 
ghosts ; and I used to be surprised if any one was about to go 
in the dark: Cupid, with his graceful mother, laughed, so that 
I could hear him, and he softly said, " Thou too wilt become 
bold." Without delay, love came upon me; then, I feared not 
spectres that flit by night, 63 or hands uplifted for my de- 
struction. 

I only fear you, thus too tardy ; you alone do I court ; 
you hold the lightning by which you can effect my de- 
struction. Look (and that you may see, loosen the obdurate 
bars) how the door has been made wet with my tears. At all 
events, 'twas I, who, when, your garment laid aside, you stood 
ready for the whip, 64 spoke in your behalf to your mistress 
as you were trembling. Does then, (0 shocking thought !) the 
credit which once prevailed in your behalf, now fail to prevail 
in my own favour ? Give a return for my kindness ; you 
may now be grateful. As you wish, 65 the hours of the night 
pass on ; 66 from the door-post 67 strike away the bar. 

62 Watches of the keepers.] — Ver. 7. Properly, the ' excubiae' were the 
military watches that were kept on guard, either by night or day, while 
the term ' vigiliae,' was only applied to the watch by night. He here 
alludes to the watch kept by jealous men over their wives. 

63 Spectres that flit by night. .] — Ver. 13. The dread of the ghosts of the 
departed entered largely among the Roman superstitions. See an account 
of the Ceremony, in the Fifth Book of the Fasti, 1. 422, et seq. f for driving 
the ghosts, or Lemures, from the house. 

^ Ready for the whip.]— -Ver. 19. See the Note to the 81st line of 
the Epistle of Deianira to Hercules. Ovid says, that he has often pleaded 
for him to his mistress ; indeed, the Roman ladies often showed more cruelty 
to the slaves, both male and female, than the men did to the male slaves. 

65 As you wish.] — Ver. 28. Of course it would be the porter's wish 
that the night should pass quickly on, as he would be relieved in the 
morning, and was probably forbidden to sleep during the night. 

68 Hours of the night pass on.] — Ver. 24. This is an intercalary line, 
being repeated after each seventh one. 

67 F rom the door-post.] — Ver. 24. The fastenings of the Roman doors 
consisted of a bolt placed at the bottom of each ' foris,' or wing of the 
door, which fell into a socket made in the sill. By way of additional pre- 
caution, at night, the front door was secured by a bar of wood or iron, 
here called ' sera,' which ran across, and was inserted in sockets on each 



E. VI.] OE, AMOUES. 2/3 

Strike it away ; then may you one day be liberated from 
your long fetters, and may the water of the slave 68 be not 
for ever drunk of by you. Hard-hearted porter! you hear 
me, as I implore in vain ; the door, supported by its hard 
oaken posts, is still unmoved. Let the protection of a closed 
gate be of value to cities when besieged ; but why, in the 
midst of peace are you dreading warfare? What would 
you do to an enemy, who thus shut out the lover ? The hours 
of the night pass on ; from the door-post strike away the bar. 

I am not come attended with soldiers and with arms ; 
I should be alone, if ruthless Love were not here. Him, 
even if I should desire it, I can never send away ; first 
should I be even severed from my limbs. Love then, and a 
little wine about my temples, 69 are with me, and the chaplet 
falling from off my anointed hair. Who is to dread arms 
such as these ? Who may not go out to face them ? The 
hours of the night pass on ; from the door-post strike away 
the bar. 

Are you delaying ? or does sleep (who but ill befriends 
the lover) give to the winds my words, as they are repelled 
from your ear ? But, I remember, when formerly I used to 
avoid you, you were awake, with the stars of the midnight. 
Perhaps, too, your own mistress is now asleep with you ; 
alas ! how much superior then is your fate to my own ! And 
since 'tis so, pass on to me, ye cruel chains. The hours of 
the night pass on ; from the door-post strike away the bar. 

Am I mistaken ? Or did the door-posts creak with the 
turning hinge, and did the shaken door give the jarring 
signal 1 Yes, I am mistaken ; the door was shaken by the 
boisterous wind. Ah me ! how far away has that gust borne 

side of the doorway. Hence it was necessary to remove or strike away 
the bar, ' excutere seram/ before the door could be opened. 

68 Water of the slave.] — Ver. 26. Water was the principal beverage of 
the Roman slaves, but they were allowed a small quantity of wine, which 
was increased on the Saturnalia. ' Far/ or ' spelt/ formed their general 
sustenance, of which they received one ' libra ' daily. Salt and oil were 
also allowed them, and sometimes fruit, but seldom vegetables. Flesh meat 
seems not to have been given to them. 

69 About my temples.'] — Ver. 37. 'Circa mea tempora/ literally, 
' around my temples/ This expression is used, because it was supposed 
that the vapours of excessive wine affect the brain. He says that he has 
only taken a moderate quantity of wine, although the chaplet falling from 
off his hair would seem to bespeak the contrary. 

T 



2/4 the amohe3 ; [b. i. 

my hopes ! Boreas, if well thou dost keep in mind the 
ravished Orithyia, come hither, and with thy blast beat open 
this relentless door. 'Tis silence throughout all the City ; 
damp with the glassy dew, the hours of the night pass on ; 
from the door-post strike away the bar. 

Otherwise I, myself,' 3 now better prepared than you, with 
my sword, and with the fire which I am holding in my 
torch, 74 will scale this arrogant abode. Night, and love, and 
wine, 75 are persuasive of no moderation ; the first is without 
shame, Bacchus and Love are without fear. 

I have expended every method ; neither by entreaties nor 
by threats have I moved you, man, even more deaf your- 
self than your door. It becomes you not to watch the 
threshold of the beauteous fair; of the anxieties of the 
prison, 76 are you more deserving. And now Lucifer is moving 
his wheels beset with rime ; and the bird is arousing 77 
wretched mortals to their work. But, chaplet taken from 
my locks joyous no longer, be you the livelong night upon this 
obdurate threshold. You, when in the morning she shall see 
you thus exposed, will be a witness of my time thus thrown 
away. Porter, whatever your disposition, good bye, and one 
day experience the pangs of him who is now departing; 

73 Otherwise I myself .] — Ver. 57. Heinsius thinks that this and the 
following line are spurious. 

74 Holding in my torch.} — Ver. 58. Torches were usually carried by the 
Romans, for their guidance after sunset, and were generally made of 
wooden staves or twigs, bound by a rope around them, in a spiral form, or 
else by circular bands at equal distances. The inside of the torch was 
filled with flax, tow, or dead vegetable matter, impregnated with pitch, 
wax, rosin, oil, or other inflammable substances. 

75 Love and wine.] — Ver. 59. He seems, by this, to admit that he has 
taken more than a moderate quantity of wine, ' modicum vinum,' as he 
says above. 

76 Anxieties of the prison.'] — Ver. 64. He alludes to the ' ergastulum,' 
or prison for slaves, that was attached to most of the Roman farms, whither 
the refractory slaves were sent from the City to work in chains. It was 
mostly under ground, and, was lighted with narrow windows, too high 
from the ground to be touched with the hand. Slaves who had displeased 
their masters were usually sent there for a punishment, and those of un- 
couth habits were kept there. Plutarch says that they were established, on 
the conquest of Italy, in consequence of the number of foreign slaves im- 
ported for the cultivation of the conquered territory. They were finally 
abolished by the Emperor Hadrian. 

77 Bird is arousing.] — Ver. 66. The cock, whom the poets universally 
consider as ' the harbinger of morn.' 



E. VII.] OE, AMOUES. 2/5 

sluggish one, and worthless in not admitting the lover, fare 
you well. And you, ye cruel door-posts, with your stubborn 
threshold ; and you, ye doors, equally slaves, 78 hard-hearted 
blocks of wood, farewell. 



ELEGY VII. 

He has beaten his mistress, and endeavours to regain her favour. 
Put my hands in manacles (they are deserving of chains), 
if any friend of mine is present, until all my frenzy has 
departed. For frenzy has raised my rash arms against my 
mistress ; hurt by my frantic hand, the fair is weeping. 
In such case could I have done an injury even to my dear 
parents, or have given unmerciful blows to even the hal- 
lowed Gods. Why ; did not Ajax, too, 80 the owner of the 
sevenfold shield, slaughter the flocks that he had caught 
along the extended plains ? And did Orestes, the guilty 
avenger of his father, the punisher of his mother, dare to ask 
for weapons against the mystic Goddesses? 81 

And could I then tear her tresses so well arranged ; and were 
not her displaced locks unbecoming to my mistress? Even 
thus was she beauteous ; in such guise they say that the 
daughter of Schceneus 82 pursued the wild beasts of Meenalus 

73 Equally slaves.] — Ver. 74. He called the doors, which were bivalve 
or folding-doors, his ' conservse,' or ' fellow slaves,' from the fact of their 
being obedient to the will of a slave. Plautus, in the Asinaria, act. ii. 
sc. 3, has a similar expression : — ' Nolo ego fores, conservas meas a te 
verberarier.' ' I won't have my door, my fellow-slave, thumped by you.' 

80 Did not Ajax too.~\ — Yer. 7. Ajax Telamon, on being refused the 
arms of Achilles, became mad, and slaughtered a flock of sheep, fancying 
that they were the sons of Atreus, and his enemy Ulysses. His shield, 
formed of seven ox hides, kirTafiotiov, is celebrated by Homer. 

bl Mystic Goddesses.] — Ver. 10. Orestes avenged the death of his 
father, Agamemnon, by slaying his own mother, Clytemnestra, together 
with her paramour, iEgistheus. He also attempted to attack the Furies, 
when they haunted him for the murder of his mother. 

b2 Daughter of Schceneus. — Ver. 13. Atalanta, the Arcadian, or Mae - 
nalian, was the daughter of Iasius, and was famous for her skill in the 
chase. Atalanta, the Boeotian, was the daughter of Schceneus, and was 
renowned for her swiftness, and for the race in which she was outstripped 
byHippomenes. The Poet has here mistaken the one for the other, calling 
the Arcadian one the daughter of Schceneus. The story of the Arcadian 
Atalanta is told in the Eighth Book of the Metamorphoses, and that of the 
daughter of Schceneus, at the end of the Tenth Book of the same work. 



276 THE AMOEES ; [b. I. 

with iier bow. In such guise did the Cretan damsel 83 weep, 
that the South winds, in their headlong flight, had borne 
away both the promises and the sails of the forsworn Theseus. 
Thus, too, chaste Minerva, did Cassandra 84 fall in thy temple, 
except that her locks were bound with the fillet. 

Who did not say to me, " You madman !" who did not say 
to me, " You barbarian !" She herself said not a word ; her 
tongue was restrained by timid apprehensions. But still her 
silent features pronounced my censure ; by her tears and by 
her silent lips did she convict me. 

First could I wish that my arms had fallen from off my 
shoulders ; to better purpose could I have parted with a por- 
tion of myself. To my own disadvantage had I the strength of 
a madman ; and for my own punishment did I stoutly exert 
my strength. What do I want with you, ye ministers of 
death and criminality ? Impious hands, submit to the chains, 
your due. Should I not have been punished had I struck 
the humblest Roman 85 of the multitude ? And shall I have a 
greater privilege against my mistress ? The son of Tydeus 
has left the worst instance of crime : he was the first to strike 
a Goddess, 86 I, the second. But less guilty was he ; by me, 
she, whom I asserted to be loved by me, was injured ; against 
an enemy the son of Tydeus was infuriate. 

Come now, conqueror, prepare your boastful triumphs ; 
bind your locks with laurel, and pay your vows to Jove, and 
let the multitude, the train, that escorts your chariot, shout 
aloud, " Io t?'iumpke ! by this valiant man has the fair been 
conquered !" Let the captive, in her sadness, go before with 
dishevelled locks, pale all over, if her hurt cheeks 87 may allow 

83 The Cretan damsel.] — Ver. 16. Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, 
when deserted on the island of Naxos or Cea. 

84 Cassandra.] — Ver. 17. Cassandra being a priestess, would wear the 
sacred fillets, ' vittse.' She was ravished by Ajax Oileus, in the temple of 
Minerva. 

85 The humblest Roman.] — Ver. 29. It was not lawful to strike a free- 
born Roman citizen. See Acts, c. xxii. v. 25. ' And as they bound him 
with thongs, Paul said unto the Centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for 
you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned ?' This privi- 
lege does not seem to have extended to Roman women of free birth. 

86 Strike a Goddess.} — Ver. 32. He alludes to the wound inflicted 
by Diomedes upon Venus, while protecting her son iEneas. 

87 Her hurt cheeks.]— Ver. 40. He implies by this, to his disgrace, 
that he has made her cheeks black and blue by his violence. 



E. VII.] OR, AMOURS. 277 

it. 'Twere more fitting for her face to be pale from the 
impress of kisses, and for her neck to bear the marks of the 
toying teeth. In short, if, after the manner of a swelling 
torrent, I was impelled, and if impetuous anger did make me 
its prey ; would it not have been enough to have shouted aloud 
at the trembling girl, and not to have thundered out ray 
threats far too severe ? Or else, to my own disgrace, to have 
torn her tunic from its upper edge down to the middle 1 
Her girdle should, at the middle, 89 have come to its aid. 
But now, in the hardness of my heart, I could dare, 
seizing her hair on her forehead, to mark her free-born 
cheeks 90 with my nails. There she stood, amazed, with her 
features pale and bloodless, just as the marble is cut in the 
Parian mountains. 91 I saw her fainting limbs, and her palpi- 
tating members ; just as when the breeze waves the foliage of 
the poplars ; just as the slender reed quivers with the 
gentle Zephyr ; or, as when the surface of the waves is 
skimmed by the warm South wind. Her tears, too, so long 
repressed, flowed down her face, just as the water flows from 
the snow when heaped up. 

Then, for the first time, did I begin to be sensible that I 
was guilty ; the tears which she was shedding were as my own 
blood. Yet, thrice was I ready, suppliantly to throw myself 
before her feet; thrice did she repel my dreaded hands. 
But, dearest, do not you hesitate, (for revenge will lessen your 
grief) at once to attack my face with your nails. Spare not 
my eyes, nor yet my hair ; let anger nerve your hands, weak 
though they may be. 

And that tokens so shocking of my criminality may no 
longer exist, put your locks, arranged anew, in their proper 
order. 92 

S9 At the middle.] — Ver. 48. He says that he ought to have heen satis- 
fied with tearing her tunic down to the waist, where the girdle should 
have stopped short the rent ; whereas, in all probability, he had torn it 
from the top to the bottom. 

90 Her free-born cheeks.'] — Ver. 50. It was a common practice with 
many of the Romans, to tear and scratch their slaves on the least provo- 
cation. 

91 The Parian mountains.] — Ver. 52. The marble of Paros was greatly 
esteemed for its extreme whiteness. Paros was one of the Cyclades, situate 
about eighteen miles from the island of Delos. 

92 Their proper order.] — Ver. 68. ' In statione,' was originally a military 
phrase, signifying ' on guard' ; from which it came to be applied to any 
thing in its place or in proper order. 



278 THE AMOEES; [b. I. 

ELEGY VIII. 

He curses a certain procuress, whom he overhears instructing his mis- 
tress in the arts of a courtesan. 

There is a certain (whoever wishes to make acquaintance 

with a procuress, let him listen.) — There is a certain old hag, 
Bipsas byname. From fact does she derive 9,1 her name; 
never in a sober state does she behold the mother of the 
swarthy Memnon with her horses of roseate hue. She knows 
well the magic arts, and the charms of iEsea, 95 and by her 
skill she turns back to its source % the flowing stream. She 
knows right well what the herbs, what the thrums impelled 
around the whirling spinning-wheel, 97 and what the venomous 
exudation 93 from the prurient mare can eifect. When she 

91 Does she derive.'] — Ver. 3. He says that her name, ' Dipsas,' is 
derived from reality, meaning thereby that she is so called from the Greek- 
verb Stxpdio, ' to thirst' ; because she was always thirsty, and never rose 
sober in the morning. 

y5 The charms of JEcsa.] — Ver. 5. He alludes to the charms of Circe 
and Medea. According to Eustathius, JEsea. was a city of Colchis. 

93 Turns back to its source.] — Ver. 6. This the magicians of ancient 
times generally professed to do. 

97 Spinning wheel.] — Ver. 8. ' Rhombus,' means a parallelogram with 
equal sides, but not having right angles, and hence, from the resemblance, 
a spinning wheel, or winder. The ' licia ' were the cords or thrums of 
the old warp, or the threads of the old web to which the threads of the 
new warp were joined. Here, however, the word seems to mean the 
threads alone. The spinning-wheel was much used in magical incanta- 
tions, not only among the Romans, but among the people of Northern 
and Western Europe. It is not improbable that the practice was founded 
on the so-called threads of destiny, and it was the province of the 
wizard, or sorceress, by his or her charms, to lengthen or shorten 
those threads, according as their customers might desire. Indeed, in 
some parts of Europe, at the present day, charms, in the shape of forms 
of words, are said to exist, which have power over the human life at any 
distance from the spot where they are uttered ; a kind of superstition 
which dispenses with the more cumbrous paraphernalia of the spinning- 
wheel. Some Commentators think that the use of the ' licia' implied that 
the minds of individuals were to be influenced at the will of the enchanter, 
in the same way as the old thrums of the warp are caught up and held 
fast by the new threads ; this view, however, seems to dispense with the 
province of the wheel in the incantation. See the Second Book of the 
Fasti, 1. 572. The old woman there mentioned as performing the rites of 
the Goddess, Tacita, among her other proceedings, ' binds the enchanted 
threads on the dark-coloured spinning-wheel.' 

38 Venomous exudation,] — Ver. 8. This was the substance called 



E. Till.] OE, AMOURS. 279 

wills it, the clouds are overspread throughout all the sky ; when 
she wills it, the day is bright with a clear atmosphere. 

I have beheld (if I may be believed) the stars dripping with 
blood : the face of the moon was empurpled" with gore. I 
believe that she, transformed, 1 was flying amid the shades of 
night, and that her hag's carcase was covered with feathers. 
This I believe, and such is the report. A double pupil, too,* 
sparkles in her eyes, and light proceeds from a twofold eye- 
ball. Forth from the ancient sepulchres she calls our great 
grandsires, and their grandsires 3 as well ; and with her long 
incantations she cleaves the solid ground. She has made it her 
occupation to violate the chaste bed ; and besides, her tongue is 

' hippomanes,' which was said to flow from mares when in a prurient state. 
Hesiod says, that ' hippomanes ' was a herb which produced madness in 
the horses that ate of it. Pliny, in his Eighth Book, says that it is a poi- 
sonous excrescence of the size of a fig, and of a black colour, which grows 
on the head of the mare, and which the foal at its birth is in the habit of 
biting off, which, if it neglects to do, it is not allowed by its mother to 
suck. This fictitious substance was said to be especially used in philtres. 

99 Moon was empurpled A — Ver. 12. If such a thing as a fog ever ex- 
ists in Italy, he may very possibly have seen the moon of a deep red 
colour. 

1 That she, transformed.] — Ver. 13. ' Versam,' ' transformed,' seems 
here to be a preferable reading to ' vivam,' ' alive.' Burmann, however, 
thinks that the « striges ' were the ghosts of dead sorcerers and wizards, 
and that the Poet means here, that Dipsas had the power of transforming 
herself into a ' strix ' even while living, and that consequently ' vivam ' is 
the proper reading. The ' strix ' was a fabulous bird of the owl kind, 
which was said to suck the blood of children in the cradle. See the Sixth 
Book of the Fasti, 1. 141, and the Note to the passage. 

2 A double pupil, too.'] — Ver. 15. The pupil, or apple of the eye, is 
that part through which light is conveyed to the optic nerve. Some per- 
sons, especially females, were said by the ancients to have a double 
pupil, which constituted what was called ' the evil eye.' Pliny the Elder 
says, in his Seventh Book, that 'all women injure by their glances, who 
have a double pupil.' The grammarian, Hsephestion, 'tells us, in his Fifth 
Book, that the wife of Candaules, king of Lydia, had a double pupil. 
Heinsius suggests, that this was possibly the case with the lalysiau 
Telchines, mentioned in the Seventh Book of the Metamorphoses, 1. 365, 
* whose eyes corrupting ail things by the very looking upon them, Jupiter, 
utterly hating, thrust them beneath the waves of his brother.' 

3 And their grandsires.'] — Ver. 17. One hypercritical Commentator 
here makes this remark : ' As though it were any more difficult to sum- 
mon forth from the tomb those who have long been dead, than those who 
are just deceased.' He forgot that Ovid had to make up his line, and 
that ' antiquis proavos atavosque' made three good feet, and two-thirds of 
another. 



280 THE AMOEES ; [B. I. 

not wanting in guilty advocacy. Chance made me the witness 
of her language ; in such words was she giving her advice ; 
the twofold doors 5 concealed me. 

" You understand, my life, how greatly you yesterday pleased 
a wealthy young man ; for he stopped short, and stood 
gazing for some time on your face. And whom do you not 
please ? Your beauty is inferior to no one's. But woe is me ! 
your person has not a fitting dress. I only wish you were as 
well off, as you are distinguished for beauty ; if you became 
rich, I should not be poor. The adverse star of Mars in op- 
position G was unfortunate for you ; Mars has gone ; now 
Venus is befriending you with her planet. See now how 
favourable she is on her approach ; a rich lover is sighing for 
you, and he makes it his care 7 what are your requirements. 
He has good looks, too, that may compare with your own ; 
if he did not wish to have you at a price, he were worthy 
himself to be purchased. " 

On this the damsel blushed : s " Blushing," said the hag, 
" suits a fair complexion indeed ; but if you only pretend it, 
'tis an advantage ; if real, it is wont to be injurious. When, 
your eyes cast down, 9 you are looking full upon your bosom, 

5 The twofold doors.']— Ver. 20. The doors used by the ancients were 
mostly bivalve, or folding doors. 

6 Mars in opposition.'] — Ver. 29. She is dabbling here in astrology, 
and the adverse and favourable aspects of the stars. We are to suppose 
that she is the agent of the young man who has seen the damsel, and she 
is telling her that the rising star of Venus is about to bring her good luck. 

7 Makes it his care.] — Ver. 32. Burmann thinks that this line, as it 
stands at present, is not pure Latin ; and, indeed, ' curse habet,' ' makes it 
his care,' seems a very unusual mode of expression. He suggests another 
reading — ' et, cultae quod tibi dent, habet,' ' and he possesses that which 
is wanting for your being well-dressed,' namely, money. 

3 The damsel blushed.] — Ver. 35. He says that his mistress blushed at 
the remark of the old hag, that the young man was worthy to be purchased 
by her, if he had not been the first to make an offer. We must suppose 
that here the Poet peeped through a chink of the door, as he was on the 
other side, listening to the discourse ; or he may have reasonably guessed 
that she did so, from the remark made in the same line by the old woman. 

9 Your eyes cast down.] — Ver. 37. The old woman seems to be ad- 
vising her to pretend modesty, by looking down on her lap, so as not to 
give away even a look, until she has seen what is deposited there, and 
then only to give gracious glances in proportion to her present. It was 
the custom for the young simpletons who lavished their money on the 
Roman courtesans, to place their presents in the lap or bosom. 



E. VIII.] OH, AMOT7BS. 281 

each man must only be looked at m the proportion in which 
he offers. Possibly the sluttish Sabine females, 11 when Tatius 
was king, were unwilling to be accommodating to more men 
than one. Now-a-days, Mars employs the bravery of our men in 
foreign warfare ; 12 but Venus holds sway in the City of her own 
iEneas. Enjoy yourselves, my pretty ones ; she is chaste, 
whom nobody has courted ; or else, if coyness does not pre- 
vent her, she herself is the wooer. Dispel these frowns 13 as 
well, which you are carrying upon your lofty brow ; with those 
frowns will numerous Mings be removed. Penelope used to 
try 14 the strength of the young men upon the bow ; the bow 
that tested the strength of their sides, was made of horn. 
Age glides stealthily on, and beguiles us as it flies ; just, as 
the swift river glides onward with its flowing waters. Brass 
grows bright by use ; good clothes require to be worn ; un- 
inhabited buildings grow white with nasty mould. Unless you 
entertain lovers, beauty soon waxes old, with no one to enjoy 
it ; and even one or two lovers are not sufficiently profitable. 
From many of them, gain is more sure, and not so difficult 
to be got. An abundant prey falls to the hoary wolves out 
of a whole flock. 

" See now ! what does this poet of yours make you a present 
of besides his last verses ? You will read many thousands of 

11 Sabine females. ~\ — Ver. 39. The Sabines were noted for their do- 
mestic virtues. The hag hints, that the chastity of the Sabine women 
was only the result of their want of good breeding. ' Tatio regnante ' 
seems to point to the good old times, in the same way as our old songsters 
have it, ' When good king Arthur reigned.' Tatius reigned jointly at Rome 
with Romulus. See the Fourteenth Book of the Metamorphoses, 1. 804. 

12 In foreign warfare^ — Ver. 41. She says, that they are now in a 
more civilized state, than when they were fighting just without the walls 
of Rome ; now they are solely engaged in foreign conquests, and Venus 
reigns in the city of the descendants of her son, iEneas. 

13 Dispel these frowns. ,] — Ver. 45. The damsel has, probably, frowned 
here at her last remark, on which she tells her she must learn, to dis- 
pense with these frowns, and that when she dispels them, ' excutit,' so 
many faults which might otherwise prove to her disadvantage, will be 
well got rid of. 

14 Penelope used to try.~\ — Ver. 47. Penelope, in order that she might 
escape the importunity of the suitors, proposed that they should try to 
bend the bow of Ulysses, promising her hand to him who should prove 
successful. The hag, however, says that, with all her pretended chastity, 
Penelope only wanted to find out who was the most stalwart man among 
her lovers, in order that she might choose him for a husband. 



232 THE AMOEES ; [b. I. 

them by this new lover. The God himself of poets, grace- 
ful in his mantle 16 adorned with gold, strikes the harmonious 
strings of the gilded lyre. He that shall make you presents, 
let him be to you greater than great Homer ; believe me, it 
is a noble thing to give. And, if there shall be any one 
redeemed at a price for his person 17 , do not you despise him ; 
the fault of having the foot rubbed with chalk 18 is a mere 
trifle. Neither let the old-fashioned wax busts about the halls 1<J 
take you in ; pack off with your forefathers, you needy lover. 
Nay more, should 20 one, because he is good-looking, ask for a 
night without a present ; why, let him first solicit his own 
admirer for something to present to you. 

" Be less exacting of presents, while you are laying your 
nets, for fear lest they should escape you : once caught, tease 
them at your own pleasure. Pretended affection, too, is not 
a bad thing ; let him fancy he is loved ; but have you a care 
that this affection is not all for nothing. Often refuse your 
favours; sometimes pretend ahead-ache; and sometimes there 
will be Isis 21 to afford a pretext. But soon admit him again ; 
that he may acquire no habits of endurance, and that his love, 

16 Graceful in his mantle, ,] — Ver. 59. The ' palla ' was especially worn 
by musicians. She is supposed to refer to the statue of Apollo, which was 
erected on the Palatine Hill by Augustus ; and her design seems to be, 
to shew that poetry and riches are not so incompatible as the girl may, 
from her lover's poverty, be led to imagine. 

17 At a price for his person.'] — Ver. 63. That is to say, some rich 
slave who has bought his own liberty. As many of the Roman slaves 
were skilful at various trades and handicrafts, and were probably allowed 
the profits of their work after certain hours in the day, it would be no 
uncommon thing for a slave, with his earnings, to purchase his liberty. 
Some of the slaves practised as physicians, while others followed the occu- 
pation of literary men. 

18 Rubbed with chalk.~\ — Ver. 64. It was the custom to mark with 
chalk, ' gypsum,' the feet of such slaves as were newly imported for sale. 

19 Busts about the halls.'] — Ver. 65. Instead of ' quinquatria,' which 
is evidently a corrupt reading, ' circum atria ' has been adopted. She is 
advising the girl not to be led away by notions of nobility, founded on the 
number of ' cerse,' or waxen busts of their ancestors, that adorned the 
4 atria/ or halls of her admirers. See the Fasti, Book i. line 591, and the 
Note to the passage ; also the Epistle of Laodamia to Protesilaus, line 152. 

20 Nay, more, should.] — Ver. 67. ' Quin ' seems to be a preferable 
reading to ' quid ?' 

21 There will be Isis.] — Ver. 74. The Roman women celebrated the fes- 
tival of Isis for several successive days, and during that period they care- 
fully abstained from the society of men. 



E. TUT.] OE, AMOrES. 283 

so often repulsed, may not begin to flag. Let your door be 
deaf to him who entreats, open to him who brings. Let the 
lover that is admitted, hear the remarks of him who is ex- 
cluded. And, as though you were the first injured, sometimes 
get in a passion with him when injured by you. His cen- 
sure, when counterbalanced by your censure/ 7 may wear away. 
But do you never afford a long duration for anger ; prolonged 
anger frequently produces hatred. Moreover, let your eyes 
learn, at discretion, to shed tears ; and let this cause or that 
cause your cheeks to be wet. And do not, if you deceive any 
one, hesitate to be guilty of perjury ; Venus lends but a deaf 
hearing 28 to deceived lovers. 

" Let a male servant and a crafty handmaid 29 be trained up to 
their parts ; who may instruct him what may be conveniently 
purchased for you. And let them ask but little for them- 
selves ; if they ask a little of many, 30 very soon, great will be the 
heap from the gleanings. 31 Let your sister, and your mother, 
and your nurse as well, fleece your admirer. A booty is soon 
made, that is sought by many hands. When occasions for 
asking for presents shall fail you, call attention with a cake 32 
to your birthday Take care that no one loves you in security, 
without a rival ; love is not very lasting if you remove all 
rivalry. Let him perceive the traces of another person on the 

27 By your censure.] — Ver. 80. When she has offended she is to pre- 
tend a counter grievance, so as to outweigh her faults. 

28 A deaf hearing.]— Yer. 86. Literally, 'deaf Godhead.' 

29 A crafty handmaid.'] — Ver. 87. The comedies of Plautus and Te- 
rence show the part which the intriguing slaves and handmaids acted on 
such occasions. 

30 A little of many.] — Ver. 89. ' Multos/ as suggested hy Heinsius, 
is preferable to ' multi,' which does not suit the sense. 

31 Heap from the gleanings.] — Ver. 90. ' Stipula ' here means ' glean- 
ings.' She says, that each of the servants must ask for a little, and those 
little sums put together will make a decent amount collected from her 
lovers. No doubt her meaning is, that the mistress should pocket the 
presents thus made to the slaves. 

32 With a cake.] — Ver. 94. The old woman tells her, when she has 
exhausted all other excuses for getting a present, to have the birth-day 
cake by her, and to pretend that it is her birth- day ; in order that her lover 
may take the hint, and present her with a gift. The birth-day cake, ac- 
cording to Servius, was made of flour and honey ; and being set on table 
before the guests, the person whose birth- day it was, ate the first slice, 
after which the others partook of it, and wished him happiness and pros- 
perity. Presents, too, were generally made on birth-days. 



284 THE AMOKES ; [b. I. 

conch ; all your neck, too, discoloured by the marks of toy- 
ing. Especially let him see the presents, which another has 
sent. If he gives you nothing, the Sacred Street 33 must be 
talked about. When you have received many things, but 
yet he has not given you every thing, be continually asking 
him to lend you something, for you never to return. Let 
your tongue aid you, and let it conceal your thoughts ; 34 
caress him, and prove his ruin. 35 Beneath the luscious honey 
cursed poisons lie concealed. If you observe these precepts, 
tried by me thoughout a long experience ; and if the winds 
and the breezes do not bear away my words ; often will you 
bless me while I live ; often will you pray, when I am dead, 
that in quietude my bones may repose." 

She was in the middle of her speech, when my shadow be- 
trayed me ; but my hands with difficulty refrained from 
tearing her grey scanty locks, and her eyes bleared with wine, 
and her wrinkled cheeks. May the Gods grant you both no 
home, 3G and a needy old age ; prolonged winters as well, and 
everlasting thirst. 37 



ELEGY IX. 

He tells Atticus that like the soldier, the lover ought to be on his guard ; 
and that Love is a species of warfare. 

Every lover is a soldier, and Cupid has a camp of his own ; 

33 The Sacred Street.]— Ver. 100. The 'via sacra,' or' Sacred Street,' 
led from the old Senate house at Rome towards the Amphitheatre, and up 
the Capitoline hill. For the sale of all kinds of luxuries, it seems to have 
had the same rank in Rome that Regent Street holds in London. The 
procuress tells her, that if her admirer makes no presents, she must turn 
the conversation to the ' Via Sacra ;' of course, asking him such questions 
as, What is to be bought there ? What is the price of such and such a 
thing ? And then she is to say, that she is in want of this or that, but un- 
fortunately she has no money, &c. 

34 Conceal your thoughts.'] — Ver. 103. This expression resembles the 
famous one attributed to Machiavelli, that ' speech was made for the con- 
cealment of the thoughts.' 

35 p rove hi s ruin,] — Ver. 103. 'Let your lips utter kind things, but 
let it be your intention to ruin him outright by your extravagance.' 

3S Grant thee both no home'] — Ver. 113. The ' Lares,' being the house- 
hold Gods, i nullos Lares,' implies ' no home.' 

3 7 Everlasting thirst.] — Ver. 114. In allusion to her thirsty name ; see 
the Note to the second line. 



E. IX.] OB, AMOURS. 285 

believe me, Atticus, 38 every lover is a soldier. The age which 
is fitted for war, is suited to love as well. For an old man to be 
a soldier, is shocking ; amorousness in an old man is shock- 
ing. The years which 39 generals require in the valiant sol- 
dier, the same does the charming fair require in her husband. 
Both soldier and lover pass sleepless nights ; both rest upon 
the ground. The one watches at the door of his mistress ; 
but the other at that of his general. 40 Long marches are the 
duty of the soldier ; send the fair far away, and the lover 
will boldly follow her, without a limit to his endurance. Over 
opposing mountains will he go, and rivers swollen with rains ; 
the accumulating snows will he pace. 

About to plough the waves, he will not reproach the stormy 
East winds ; nor will he watch for Constellations favourable 
for scudding over the waves. Who, except either the soldier or 
the lover, will submit to both the chill of the night, and the 
snows mingled with the heavy showers ? The one is sent as a 
spy against the hostile foe ; the other keeps his eye on his 
rival, as though upon an enemy. The one lays siege to stubborn 
cities, the other to the threshold of his obdurate mistress : the 
one bursts open gates, and the other, doors. 42 Full oft has it an- 
swered to attack the enemy when buried in sleep ; and to 
slaughter an unarmed multitude with armed hand. Thus 
did the fierce troops of the Thracian Rhesus 43 fall ; and you, 
captured steeds, forsook your lord. Full oft do lovers take 
advantage of the sleep of husbands, and brandish their arms 
against the slumbering foe. To escape the troops of the sen- 

38 Atticus.'] — Ver. 2. It is supposed that this Atticus was the same 
person to whom Ovid addresses the Fourth and Seventh Pontic Epistle in 
the Second Book. It certainly was not Pomponius Atticus, the friend of 
Cicero, who died when the Poet was in his eleventh year. 

a9 Tlie years tvhich.~\ — Ver. 5. The age for serving in the Roman 
armies, was from the seventeenth up to the forty-sixth year. 

40 Of his general] — Ver. 8. He alludes to the four night-watches of 
the Roman army, which succeeded each other every three hours. Each 
guard, or watch, consisted of four men, of whom one acted as sentry, while 
the others were in readiness, in case of alarm. 

4J The other t doors.] — Ver. 20. From the writings of Terence and 
Plautus, as well as those of Ovid, we find that the youths of Rome were 
not very scrupulous about kicking down the door of an obdurate mistress. 

43 Thracian Rhesus-] — Ver. 23. See the preceding Epistle of Pene- 
lope to Ulysses, and the speech of Ulysses in the Thirteenth Book of the 
Metamorphoses. 



286 THE AilOEES ; [S. I. 

tinels, and the bands of the patrol, is the part both of the 
soldier, and of the lover always in misery. Mars is wayward, 
and Venus is uncertain ; both the conquered rise again, and 
those fall whom you would say could never possibly be pros- 
trate. 

Whoever, then, has pronounced Love mere slothfulness, let 
him cease to love : 4i to the discerning mind does Love belong. 
The mighty Achilles is inflamed by the captive Brise'is. Tro- 
jans, while you may, destroy the Argive resources. Hector used 
to go to battle fresh from the embraces of Andromache ; and 
it was his wife who placed his helmet on his head. The son of 
Atreus, the first of all the chiefs, on beholding the daughter 
of Priam, is said to have been smitten with the dishevelled 
locks of the raving prophetess}* Mars, too, when caught, was 
sensible of the chains wrought at the forge ; 47 there was no 
story better known than his, in all the heavens. 

I myself was of slothful habit, and born for a lazy inac- 
tivity ; 13 the couch and the shade 49 had enervated my mind. 
Attentions to the charming fair gave a fillip to me, in my in- 
dolence ; and Love commanded me to serve 50 in his camp. 
Hence it is that thou seest me active, and waging the warfare 
by night. Let him who wishes not to become slothful, fall 
in love. 

44 Cease to love."] — Ver. 32. It is hard to say whether the word 
' Desinat' means ' Let him leave off saying so,' or ' Let him cease to love' : 
perhaps the latter is the preferable mode of rendering it. 

46 The raving prophetess.] — Ver. 38. ' Msenas ' literally means 'a 
raving female,' from the Greek word fiaivojiai, 'to be mad.' He alludes 
to Cassandra when inspired with the prophetic spirit. 

17 At the forge.~] — Ver. 39. When he was detected by means of the 
iron net, as related in the Fourth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

43 A lazy inactivity, .] — Ver. 41. When persons wished to be at ease 
in their leisure moments at home, they were in the habit of loosening the 
girdle which fastened the tunic ; from this circumstance, the term ' dis- 
cinctus ' is peculiarly applied to a state of indolence. 

49 Couch and the shade.] — Ver. 42. * Lectus et umbra' means ' lying in 
bed and reclining in the shade.' The shade of foliage would have peculiar 
attractions in the cloudless climate of Italy, especially for persons natu- 
rally inclined to be idle. 

50 To serve.] — Ver. 44. ' 2Era merere ' has the same meaning as 
' stipendum merere,' ' to earn the pay of a soldier,' whence it came to 
signify, ' to serve as a soldier.' The ancient accounts differ materially as 
to the pay which the Roman soldiers received. 



E. X.] OB, A3IOTJBS. 287 



ELEGY X. 

He tells his mistress that she ought not to require presents as a return 
for her love. 

Such as she, who, borne away from the Eurotas, 51 in the 
Phrygian ships, was the cause of warfare to her two hus- 
bands ; such as Leda was, whom her crafty paramour, con- 
cealed in his white feathers, deceived under the form of a 
fictitious bird ; such as Amymone 52 used to wander in the 
parched fields of Argos, when the urn was pressing the locks 
on the top of her head ; such were you ; and I was in dread 
of both the eagle and the bull with respect to you, and what- 
ever form besides Love has created of the mighty Jove. 

Now, all fears are gone, and the disease of my mind is 
cured ; and now no longer does that form of yours rivet my 
eyes. Do you inquire why I am changed ? It is, because you 
require presents. This reason does not allow of your pleasing 
me. So long as you were disinterested, I was in love with 
your mind together with your person; now, in my estimation, 
your appearance is affected by this blemish on your disposi- 
tion. Love is both a child and naked ; he has years without 
sordidness, and he wears no clothes, that he may be with- 
out concealment, Why do you require the son of Venus to 
be prostituted at a price ? He has no fold in his dress, 53 in 
which to conceal that price. Neither Venus is suited for 
cruel arms, nor yet the son of Venus ; it befits not such uii- 
warlike Divinities to serve for pay. The courtesan stands 
for hire to any one at a certain price ; and with her sub- 
missive body, she seeks for wretched pelf. Still, she curses 
the tyranny of the avaricious procurer ; 54 and she does, 

51 The Eurotas.'] — Ver. 1. The Eurotas was the river which flowed 
past the walls of Sparta. He is alluding to Helen. 

52 Amymone.] — Ver. 5. She was one of the Dana'ides, and was carrying 
water, when she was attacked by a Satyr, and rescued by Neptune. See 
the Epistle of Hero to Leander, 1. 131, and the Note to the passage. 

53 Fold in his dress.'] — Ver. 18. The ' sinus ' of the ' toga,' among the 
men, and of the ' palla/ among the women, which extended infolds 
across the breast, was used as a pocket, in which they carried money, 
purses, letters, and other articles. When the party was seated, the ' sinus' 
would almost correspond in meaning with our word ' lap.' 

54 Avaricious procurer .] — Ver. 23. ' Leno ' was a person who kept a 
house for the purposes of prostitution, and who generally robbed his 



288 THE AM0EE3 ; [b. I. 

by compulsion/ 5 what you are doing of your own free 
will. 

Take, as an example, the cattle, devoid of reason ; it were a 
shocking thing for there to be a finer feeling in the brutes. 
The mare asks no gift of the horse, nor the cow of the bull ; 
the ram does not woo the ewe, induced by presents. Woman 
alone takes pleasure in spoils torn from the man ; she alone 
lets out her nights ; alone is she on sale, to be hired at a 
price. She sells, too, joys that delight them both, and which 
both covet ; and she makes it a matter of pay, at what 
price she herself is to be gratified. Those joys, Which are so 
equally sweet to both, why does the one sell, and why the 
other buy them ? Why must that delight prove a loss to me, 
to you a gain, for which the female and the male combine with 
kindred impulse? Witnesses hired dishonestly, 56 sell their 
perjuries ; the chest 57 of the commissioned judge 58 is dis- 
gracefully open for the bribe. 

'Tis a dishonourable thing to defend the wretched criminals 
with a tongue that is purchased ; 59 'tis a disgrace for a tri- 
bunal to make great acquisitions. 'Tis a disgrace for a woman 
to increase her patrimonial possessions by the profits of her 
embraces, and to prostitute her beauty for lucre. Thanks are 

victims of the profits of their unfortunate calling. This was called ' le- 
nocinium,' and the trade was not forbidden, though the ' lenones ' were 
considered ' infames,' or ' disgraced,' and thereby lost certain political 
rights. 

55 By compulsion. — Ver. 24. Being probably the slave of the ' leno,' 
he would use force to make her comply with his commands. 

56 Hired dishonestly.'] — Ver. 37. The evidence of witnesses was taken 
by the Praetor, and was called ' jusjurandum in judicio,' whereas the evi- 
dence of parties themselves was termed ' jusjurandum in jure.' It was 
given on oath by such as the Praetor or other judge chose to call, or as 
either party might propose for examination. 

57 The chest. ,] — Ver. 38. The 'area' here means the strong box, or 
chest, in which the Romans were accustomed to place their money; they 
were generally made of, or bound with, iron or other metal. 

58 Commissioned judge.] — Ver. 38. The ' judices selecti ' were the 'cen- 
tumviri,' a body of one hundred and five officers, whose duty it was to 
assist the Praetor in questions where the right to property was litigated. 
In the Second Book of the Tristia, 1. 93, we are informed that the Poet 
himself filled the office of a ' judex selectus.' 

59 That is purchased.] — Ver. 39. Among the Romans, the 'patroni' de- 
fended their ' clientes ' gratuitously, and it would have been deemed dis- 
graceful for them to take a fee or present. 



S. X.] OR, AMOURS. 289 

justly due for things obtained without purchase ; there are 
no thanks for an intercourse disgracefully bartered. He who 
hires, 60 pays all his due ; the price once paid, he no longer 
remains a debtor for your acquiescence. Cease, ye beauties, 
to bargain for pay for your favours. Sordid gains bring no 
good results. It was not worth her while to bargain for the 
Sabine bracelets, 61 in order that the arms should crush the 
head of the sacred maiden. The son pierced 63 with the 
sword those entrails from which he had sprung, and a simple 
necklace 64 was the cause of the punishment. 

But yet it is not unbecoming for a present to be asked of 
the wealthy man ; he has something to give to her who does 
ask for a present. Pluck the grapes that hang from the loaded 
vines; let the fruitful soil of Alcinoiis 65 afford the apples. Let 
the needy man proffer duty, zeal, and fidelity ; what each one 
possesses, let him bestow it all upon his mistress. My en- 
dowments, too, are in my lines to sing the praises of those 
fair who deserve them ; she, whom I choose, becomes cele- 
brated through my skill. Vestments will rend, gems and 
gold will spoil ; the fame which poesy confers is everlasting. 

Still I do not detest giving and revolt at it, but at being 
asked for a price. Cease to demand it, and I will give you 
that which I refuse you while you ask. 

60 He who hires.'] — Ver. 45. The ' conductor' was properly the person 
who hired the services, or the property of another, for a fixed price. The 
word sometimes means ' a contractor,' or the person with whom the bar- 
gain by the former party is made. See the public contract mentioned in 
the Fasti, Book v. 1. 293.. 

61 The Sabine bracelets."] — Ver. 49. He alludes to the fate of the Vestal 
virgin Tarpeia. See the Fasti, Book i. 1. 261, and Note ; also the Trans- 
lation of the Metamorphoses, p. 516. 

63 The son pierced.] — Ver. 52. Alcmseon killed his mother Eriphyle, 
for having betrayed his father Amphiaraus. See the Second Book of the 
Fasti, 1. 43, and the Third Book of the Pontic Epistles, Ep. i. 1. 52, and 
the Notes to the passages. 

64 A simple necklace.] — Ver. 52. See the Epistle of De'i'anira to Her- 
cules, and the Tenth Book of the Metamorphoses, L 113, with the Note 
to the passage. 

65 Soil of Alcinoiis.] — Ver. 56. The fertile gardens of Alcinoiis, king 
of : the Phseacians, are celebrated by Homer in the Odyssey 



290 THE AMORE3 ; [b. I. 

ELEGY XL 

He begs Nape to deliver his letter to her mistress, and commences by 
praising her neatness and dexterity, and the interest she has hitherto 
manifested in his behalf. 

Nape, skilled at binding the straggling locks 60 and arranging 
them in order, and not deserving to be reckoned 67 among the 
female slaves ; known, too, by experience to be successful in 
the contrivances of the stealthy night, and clever in giving the 
signals ; 68 you who have so oft entreated Corinna, when hesi- 
tating, to come to me ; who have been found so often faithful 
by me in my difficulties ; take and carry these tablets, 69 so 
well-filled, 70 this morning to your mistress ; and by your 
diligence dispel all impeding delay. Neither veins of flint, 
nor hard iron is in your breast, nor have you a simplicity 
greater than that of your clever class. There is no doubt 
that you, too, have experienced the bow of Cupid; in my 
behalf defend the banner of your service. If Corinna asks 
what I am doing, you will say that I am living in expectation 
of the night. The wax inscribed with my persuasive hand is 
carrying the rest. 

While I am speaking, time is flying ; opportunely give her 

66 The straggling locks.] — Ver. 1. The duty of dressing the hair of the 
Roman ladies was divided among several slaves, who were called by the 
general terms of ' cosmetae,' and ' ornatrices.' It was the province of one 
to curl the hair with a hot iron, called ' calamistrum,' which was hollow, 
and was heated in wood ashes by a slave who, from ' cinis,' ' ashes,' was 
called ' ciniflo.' The duty of the l psecas' came next, whose place it was 
to anoint the hair. Then came that of the ' ornatrix,' who parted the curls 
with a comb or bodkin ; this seems to have been the province of Nape. 

67 To be reckoned.'] — Ver. 2. The Nymphs of the groves were called 
vairaiai ; and perhaps from them Nape received her name, as it is evi- 
dently of Greek origin. One of the dogs of Actaeon is called by the same 
name, in the Metamorphoses, Bookiii.l. 214. 

68 Giving the signals.] — Ver. 4. ' Notis' may mean here, either ' hints,' 
' signs,' ' signals,' or ' letters.' In Nizard's French translation it is ren- 
dered ' missives.' 

69 Carry these tablets.] — Ver. 7. On the wax tablets, see the Note to 
the Pontic Epistles, Book ii. El. 9. 1. 69, and the Metamorphoses, Bookix. 
1. 521, with the Note. 

'° So well filled.] —Ver. 7. ' Peraratas' literally means • ploughed 
over' ; which term is properly applied to the action of the ' stylus,' in 
ploughing through the wax upon the tablets. Suetonius relates that Julius 
Caesar, when he was murdered in the Senate House, pierced the arm of 
the assassin Cassius with his ' stylus.' 



E. XI.] OB, AMOTJHS. 291 

my tablets, when she is at leisure ; but still, make her read 
them at once. I bid you watch her eyes and her forehead as 
she reads ; from the silent features we may know the future. 
And be there no delay ; when she has read them through, 
request her to write a long answer; 72 I hate it, when the 
bleached wax is empty, with a margin on every side. Let 
her write the lines close as they run, and let the letters traced 
in the extreme margin long detain my eyes. 

But what need is there for wearying her fingers with hold- 
ing the pen ? 75 Let the whole of her letter contain this one 
word, " Come." Then, I should not delay to crown my victo- 
rious tablets with laurel, nor to place them in the midst of the 
temple of Venus. Beneath them I would inscribe " Naso con- 
secrates these faithful servants of his to Venus ; but lately, 
you were pieces of worthless maple." 76 



ELEGY XII. 

He curses the tablets which he has sent, because his mistress has writ- 
ten an answer on them, in which she refuses to grant his request. 

Lameistt my misfortune ; my tablets have returned to me 
with sad intelligence. Her unlucky letter announces that 
she cannot be seen to-day. There is something in omens ; 
just now, when she was preparing to go, Nape stopped short, 
having struck her foot 78 against the threshold. When sent out 
of doors another time, remember to pass the threshold more 
carefully, and like a sober woman lift your foot high enough. 

72 A long answer.'] — Ver. 19. She is to write at once, on having read 
his letter through. This she could do the more readily, as she could use 
the same tablets, smoothing the wax with the broad end of the ' graphium/ 
or ' stylus.' 

75 Holding the pen.] — Ver. 23. ' Graphium' was the Greek name for 
the ' stylus,' or pen used for writing on the wax tablets. It was generally 
of iron or copper, but sometimes of gold. The case in which it was kept 
was called * graphiarium,' or ' graphiaria theca.' 

76 Of worthless maple.] — Ver. 28. He calls the wood of the tablets 
'vile,' in comparison with their great services to him : for, according 
to Pliny, Book xvi. c. 15, maple was the most valued wood for tablets, 
next to ' citrus,' cedar, or citron wood. It was also more useful than citron, 
because it could be cut into leaves, or laminae, of a larger size than citron 
would admit of. 

78 Struck her foot.] — Ver. 4. This is mentioned as a bad omen by 
Laodamia, in her Epistle to Protesilaiis, 1. 88. So in the Tenth Book of 
the Metamorphoses, in the shocking story of Cinyras and Myrrha ; ' Three 
times was she recalled by the presage of her foot stumbling.' 

u"2 



292 THE AMOEES ; [b. I; 

Away with you, obdurate tablets, fatal bits of board ; and you 
wax, as well, crammed with the lines of denial. I doubt the 
Corsican bee 80 has sent you collected from the blossom of the 
tall hemlock, beneath its abominable honey. 

Besides, you were red, as though you had been thoroughly 
dyed in vermilion ; sl such a colour is exactly that of blood. 
Useless bits of board, thrown out in the street, there may you 
lie ; and may the weight of the wheel crush you, as it passes 
along. I could even prove that he who formed you to shape 
from the tree, had not the hands of innocence. That tree 
surely has afforded a gibbet for some wretched neck, and 
has supplied the dreadful crosses 82 for the executioner. It 
has given a disgusting shelter to the screeching owls ; in its 
branches it has borne the eggs of the vulture and of the 
screech-owl. 83 In my madness, have I entrusted my court- 
ship to these, and have I given soft words to be thus carried to 
my mistress ? 

These tablets would more becomingly hold the prosy sum- 
mons, 84 which some judge 85 pronounces, with his sour face. 

80 The Corsican lee.] — Ver. 10. From Pliny, Bookxvi., we learn that 
the honey of Corsica was of a bitter taste, in consequence of the box- 
trees and yews, with which the isle abounded, and which latter, according 
to him, were poisonous. From Diodorus Siculus we learn that there 
were many turpentine trees on the island; this would not tend to improve 
the flavour of the honey. 

81 Dyed in vermilion.'] — Ver. 11. 'Minium,' 'red lead,' or 'ver- 
milion,' was discovered by Callias, an Athenian, according to Theophrastus. 
It was sometimes mixed with the wax used for tablets : probably not 
the best, but that which was naturally of a bad colour. This censure of 
the tablets is a good illustration of the grapes being sour. In the last 
Elegy, before he has received his repulse, he declares the wax to be ' splen- 
dida,' ' of brilliant whiteness through bleaching ;' now, on the other hand, 
he finds, most ominously, that it is as red as blood. 

82 Dreadful crosses.]— Ver. 18. See the First Book of the Pontic 
Epistles, Ep. vi. 1. 38, and the Note to the passage. 

83 The screech-owl.] — Ver. 20. ' Strix ' here means a screech-owl ; and 
not the fabulous bird referred to under that name, in the Sixth Book of 
the Fasti, and the thirteenth line of the Eighth Elegy of this Book. 

8i The prosy summons.] — Ver. 23. ' Vadimonium legere ' probably 
means, ' to call a man on his bail ' or ' recognizances.' When the Praetor 
had granted an action, the plaintiff required the defendant to give security 
for his appearance on the day named. The defendant, on finding a surety, 
was said ' vades dare,' or ' vadimonium facere '; and the ' vas,' or surety, 
was said ' spqndere.' The plaintiff, if satisfied with the surety, was said 
4 vadari reum,' ' to let the defendant go on his sureties.' 

85 Some judge.] — Ver. 24. Some Commentators think that the word 



E. XII.] OB, AMOtJES. 293 

Much better would they lie amid diaries and day-books, 86 over 
which the avaricious huncks might lament his squandered 
substance. And have I then in reality as well as in name 
found you full of duplicity ? 87 The very number of you was 
not one of good omen. What, in my anger, ought I to pray, 
but that an old age of rottenness may consume you, and 
that your wax may be white with nasty mould ? 



ELEGY XIII. 

-He entreats the morning not to hasten on with its usual speed. 

Now over the Ocean does she come from her aged husband 
Tithonus, who, with her yellow locks, brings on the day with 
her frosty chariot. Whither, Aurora, art thou hastening ? Stay; 
and then may the yearly bird, with its wonted death, honour 
the shades 89 of thy Memnon, its parent. Now do I delight to 
recline in the soft arms of my mistress ; now, if ever, is she 
deliciously united to my side. Now, too, slumbers are sound, 

' cognitor ' here means, the attorney, or procurator of the plaintiff, who 
might, in his ahsence, carry on the cause for him. In that case they would 
translate ' duro,' ' shameless,' or ' impudent.' But another meaning of the 
word ' cognitor ' is ' a judge,' or ' commissioner,' and such seems to be the 
meaning here, in which case ' durus ' will mean ' severe,' or ' sour ;' ' as,' 
according to one Commentator, ' judges are wont to be.' 

86 And day-books."] — Ver. 25. Seneca, at the end of his 19th Epistle, 
calls a Calendar by the name of ' Ephemeris,' while a day-book is meant 
by the term as used by Ausonius. The word here seems to mean a 
1 diary ;' while '■ tabula' is perhaps a ■ day-book,' in which current expenses 
are set down, and over which the miser weeps, as the record of past ex- 
travagance. 

37 Full of duplicity.']— Ver. 27. The word ' duplex' means either 
' double,' or ' deceitful,' according to the context. He plays on this 
twofold meaning, and says that double though they might be, still truly 
deceitful they were ; and that the two leaves of the tablets were of no 
good omen to him. Two-leaved tablets were technically called ' diptycha,.' 

89 Honour the shades.]— Ver. 4. ' Parento' means ' to celebrate the 
funeral obsequies of one's parents.' Both the Romans and the Greeks 
were accustomed to visit the tombs of their relatives at certain times, 
and to offer sacrifices, called ' inferise,' or ' parentalia.' The souls of the 
departed were regarded by the Romans as Gods, and the oblations to them 
consisted of milk, wine, victims, or wreaths of flowers. The Poet here 
refers to the birds which arose from the funeral pile of Memnon, and were 
said to revisit it annually. See the Thirteenth Book of the Metamorphoses. 



294 THE AMOEES ; [b. I. 

and now the moisture is cooling ; 90 the birds, too, are sweetly 
warbling with their little throats. Whither art thou hastening, 
hated by the men, detested by the fair ? Check thy dewy 
reins with thy rosy hand. 

Before thy rising, the sailor better observes his Constel- 
lations ; and he wanders not in ignorance, in the midst of 
the waves. On thy approach, the wayfarer arises, weary 
though he be ; the soldier lays upon his arms the hands used 
to bear them. Thou art the first to look upon the tillers of 
the fields laden with the two-pronged fork ; thou art the first 
to summon the lagging oxen to the crooked yoke. 'Tis thou 
who dost deprive boys of their sleep, and dost hand them 
over to their masters; 92 that their tender hands may suffer 
the cruel stripes. 93 ^Tis thou, too, who dost send the man 
before the vestibule of the attorney, 94 when about to become 
bail ; 95 that he may submit to the great risks of a single word. 

90 Moisture is cooling.'] — Ver. 7. ' Humor* seems to mean the dew, 
or the dampness of the night, which would tend, in a hot climate, to mo- 
dify the sultriness of the atmosphere. One Commentator thinks that the 
word means the humours of the brain. 

92 To their masters.'] — Ver. 17. The schools at Rome were mostly 
kept by manumitted slaves ; and we learn from the Fasti, Book iii. 
1. 829, that people were not very particular about paying them. 

93 The cruel stripes.] — Ver. 18. The punishment here mentioned was 
generally inflicted on the hands of the Roman school-boys, with a ' ferula,' 
or stalk of giant-fennel, as we learn from Juvenal, Satire 1. 

94 The attorney.] — Ver. 19. The business of the ' jurisconsultus ' was 
to expound and give opinions on the law, much like the chamber counsel 
of the present day. They were also known by the name of ' juris periti,' 
or ' consulti' only. Cicero gives this definition of the duty of a ' consultus/ 
' He is a person who has such a knowledge of the laws and customs which 
prevail in a state, as to be able to advise, and secure a person in his deal- 
ings.' They advised their clients gratuitously, either in public places, or 
at their own houses. They also drew up wills and contracts, as in the 
present instance. 

95 To become bail] — Ver. 19. This passage has given much trouble to 
the Commentators, but it has been well explained by Burmann, whose 
ideas on the subject are here adopted. The word ' sponsum ' has been 
generally looked upon here as a noun substantive, whereas it is the active 
supine of the verb ' spondeo,' ' to become bail ' or ' security.' The meaning 
then is, that some rise early, that they may go and become bail for a friend, 
and thereby incur risk and inconvenience, through uttering a single word, 
' spondeo,' ' I become security,' which was the formula used. The obli- 
gation was contracted orally, and for the purpose of evidencing it, witnesses 
were necessary ; for this reason the undertaking was given, as in the pre- 
sent instance, in the presence of a ' jurisconsultus. , 



E. XIII.] OE, AMOTJES. 295 

Thou art no source of pleasure to the pleader, 98 nor yet to 
the counsel ; for fresh combats each is forced to rise. Thou, 
when the labours of the females might have had a pause, dost 
recal the hand of the worker in wool to its task. 

All this I could endure ; but who could allow the fair to 
arise thus early, except the man who has no mistress of his 
own 1 How often have I wished that night would not make 
way for thee ; and that the stars when put to flight would 
not fly from thy countenance. Many a time have I wished that 
either the wind would break thy chariot to pieces, or that thy 
steed would fall, overtaken by some dense cloud. Remorse- 
less one, whither dost thou hasten ? Inasmuch as thy son was 
black, such was the colour of his mother's heart. What if" 
she had not once burned with passion for Cephalus ? Or does 
she fancy that her escapade was not known ? I only wish it 
was allowed Tithonus to tell of thee ; there would not be a 
more coarse tale in all the heavens. While thou art avoiding 
him, because he is chilled by length of years, thou dost rise 
early in the morning from the bed of the old man to thy 
odious chariot. But if thou wast only holding some Cephalus 
embraced in thy arms ; then wouldst thou be crying out, 
" Run slowly on, ye horses of the night.' ' 

Why should I be punished in my affections, if thy husband 
does decay through length of years ? Wast thou married 
to the old fellow by my contrivance? See how many hours 
of sleep the Moon gave l to the youth beloved by her ; and 
yet her beauty is not inferior to thine. The parent of the 
Gods himself, that he might not see thee so often, joined two 
nights together 2 for the attainment of his desires. 

I had finished my reproaches; you might be sure she heard 
them ; for she blushed. However, no later than usual did 
the day arise. 

98 To the pleader.] — Ver. 21. ' Causidicus' was the person who pleaded 
the cause of his client in court, before the Praetor or other judges. 

99 What if.] — Ver. 33. Heinsius and other Commentators think that 
this line and the next are spurious. The story of Cephalus and Procris 
is related at the close of the Seventh Book of the Metamorphoses. 

1 The Moon gave.] — Ver. 43. Ovid says that Diana sent the sleep upon 
Endymion, whereas it was Jupiter who did so, as a punishment for his pas- 
sion for Juno ; he alludes to the youthfulness of the favorite of Diana, anti- 
thetically to the old age of Tithonus, the husband of Aurora. 

2 Two nights together.] — Ver. 46. When he slept with Alcmena, under 
the form of her husband Amphion. 



296 THE AMORES ; [B. T. 



ELEGY XIV. 

His mistress having been in the habit of dyeing her hair with noxious 
compositions, she has nearly lost it, becoming almost bald. He re- 
minds her of his former advice, and entreats her to abstain from the 
practice, on which there may be a chance of her recovering it. 

I always used to say ; " Do leave off doctoring your hair." 3 
And now you have no hair left, that you can be dyeing. But, 
if you had let it alone, what was more plenteous than it ? It 
used to reach down your sides, so far as ever 4 they extend. 
And besides : Was it not so fine, that you were afraid to dress 5 
it ; just like the veils 6 which the swarthy Seres use ? Or like 
the thread which the spider draws out with her slender legs, 
when she fastens her light work beneath the neglected beam 1 
And yet its colour was not black, nor yet was it golden, but 
though it was neither, it was a mixture of them both. A 
colour, such as the tall cedar has in the moist vallies of 
craggy Ida, when its bark is stript off. 

Besides, it was quite tractable, and falling into a thousand 
ringlets ; and it was the cause of no trouble to you. Neither 
the bodkin, 8 nor the tooth of the comb ever tore it ; your tire- 

3 Doctoring your hair.} — Ver. 1. Among the ancient Greeks,black hair 
was the most frequent, but that of a blonde colour was most valued. It was 
not uncommon with them to dye it when turning grey, so as to make it 
a black or blonde colour, according to the requirement of the case. Blonde 
hair was much esteemed by the Romans, and the ladies were in the habit 
of washing their hair with a composition to make it of this colour. This 
was called ' spuma caustica,' or ' caustic soap,' which was first used by 
the Gauls and Germans ; from its name, it was probably the substance 
which had been used inthe present instance. 

4 So far as ever.] — Ver. 4. By this he means as low as her ancles. 

5 Afraid to dress.] — Ver. 5. He means to say, that it was so fine that 
she did not dare to curl it, for fear of injuring it. 

6 Just like the veils.] — Ver. 6. Burmann thinks that 'fila,' 'threads,' 
is better here than ' vela,' and that it is the correct reading. The swarthy 
Seres here mentioned, were perhaps the Chinese, who probably began to 
import their silks into Rome about this period. The mode of producing 
silk does not seem to have been known to Virgil, who speaks, in the Second 
Book of the Georgics, of the Seres combing it off the leaves of trees. 
Pliny also, in his Sixth Book, gives the same account. Ovid, however, 
seems to refer to silkworms under the name of ' agrestes tineas,' in the 
Fifteenth Book of the Metamorphoses, 1. 372. 

8 Neither the bodkin.} — Ver. 15. This was the ' discerniculura,' or 
* bodkin,' which was used in parting the hair. 



E. XIV.] OR, AMOTTBS. 297 

woman always had a whole skin. Many a time was it dressed 
before my eyes ; and yet, never did the bodkin 10 seized 
make wounds in her arms. Many a time too, in the morning, 
her locks not yet arranged, was she lying on the purple 
couch, with her face half upturned. Then even, unadorned, 
was she beauteous ; as when the Thracian Bacchanal, in her 
weariness, throws herself carelessly upon the green grass. 
Still, fine as it was, and just like down, what evils, alas ! did 
her tortured hair endure ! How patiently did it submit itself 
to the iron and the fire ; u that the curls might become crisp 
with their twisting circlets. " 'Tis a shame," I used to cry, 
" 'tis a shame, to be burning that hair ; naturally it is be- 
coming ; do, cruel one, be merciful to your own head. 
Away with all violence from it ; it is not hair that deserves to 
be scorched ; the very locks instruct 13 the bodkins when 
applied." 

Those beauteous locks are gone ; which Apollo might have 
longed for, and which Bacchus might have wished to be on his 
own head. With them I might compare those, which naked 
Dione is painted 13 as once having held up with her dripping 
hand. Why are you complaining that hair so badly treated 
is gone ? Why, silly girl, do you lay down the mirror 14 with 
disconsolate hand ? You are not seen to advantage by 
yourself with eyes accustomed to your former self. For you 
to please, you ought to be forgetful of jour former self. 

10 Did the bodkin.] — Ver. 18. The ' acus ' here mentioned, was proba- 
bly the ' discerniculum,' and not the ' crinale,' or hair-pin that was worn 
in the hair ; as the latter was worn when the hair was bound up at the 
back of the head ; whereas, judging from the length of the hair of his 
mistress, she most probably wore it in ringlets. He says that he 
never saw her snatch up the bodkin and stick it in the arm of the 
' ornatrix.' 

11 Iron and the fire.'] — Ver. 25. He alludes to the unnecessary ap- 
plication of the curling-iron to hair which naturally curled so well. 

12 The very locks instruct .~\ — Ver. 30. Because they naturally assume 
as advantageous an appearance as the bodkin coidd possibly give them, 
when arranged with the utmost skill. 

13 Dione is painted.] — Ver. 34. Pliny, book xxxv. c. 4, mentions 
a painting, by Apelles, in which Venus was represented as rising from 
the sea. It was placed, by Augustus, in the temple of Julius Caesar ; and 
the lower part having become decayed, no one could be found of sufficient 
ability to repair it. 

14 Lay down the mirror.] — Ver. 16. The mirror was usually held by 
the ' ornatrix,' while her mistress arranged her hair. 



298 THE AMOEES ; [B. T. 

No enchanted herbs of a rival 15 have done you this injury; no 
treacherous hag has been washing you with Heemonian water. 
The effects, too, of no disease have injured you ; (far away be 
all bad omens ; 16 ) nor has an envious tongue thinned your 
abundant locks ; 'twas your own self who gave the prepared 
poison to your head. Now Germany will be sending 17 for you 
her captured locks; by the favour of a conquered race you will 
be adorned. Ah! how many a time will you have to blush, as 
any one admires your hair ; and then you will say, " Now I am 
receiving praise for a bought commodity ! In place of myself, 
he is now bepraising some Sygambrian girl 18 unknown to me; 
still, I remember the time when that glory was my own." 

Wretch that I am ! with difficulty does she restrain her 
tears ; and she covers her face with her hand, having her 
delicate cheeks suffused with blushes. She is venturing to 
look at her former locks, placed in her bosom ; a treasure, 
alas ! not fitted for that spot. 19 

Calm your feelings with your features ; the loss may still 
be repaired. Before long, you will become beauteous with 
your natural hair. 

ELEGY XV. 

He tells the envious that the fame of Poets is immortal, and that theirs 
is not a life devoted to idleness. 

Why, gnawing Envy, dost thou blame me for years of sloth- 
fulness ; and why dost thou call poesy the employment of an 
idle mind 1 Thou say est that I do not, after the manner of my 
ancestors, while vigorous years allow me, seek the prizes of 

15 Herbs of a rival.'] — Ver. 39. No person would be more likely 
than the ' pellex,' or concubine, to resort to charms and drugs, for the 
purpose of destroying the good looks of the married woman whose hus- 
band she wishes to retain. 

16 All bad omens.'] — Ver. 41. So superstitious were the Romans, that 
the very mention of death, or disease, was deemed ominous of ill. 

17 Germany will be sending.] — Ver. 45. Germany having been lately 
conquered by the arms of Augustus, he says that she must wear false hair, 
taken from the German captives. It was the custom to cut short the 
locks of the captives, and the German women were famed for the beauty 
of their hair. 

18 Sygambrian girl.] — Ver. 49. The Sygambri were a people of Ger- 
many, living on the banks of the rivers Lippe and Weser. 

19 For that spot.] — Ver. 53. She carries a lock of the hair, which had 
fallen off, in her bosom. 



E. XT.] OB, AMOTJES. 299 

warfare covered with dust ; that I do not make myself ac- 
quainted with the prosy law, and that I have not let my 
tongue for hire 21 in the disagreable courts of justice. 

The pursuits of which thou art speaking, are perishable ; 
by me, everlasting fame is sought ; that to all time I may be 
celebrated throughout the whole world. The Mseonian bard 22 
will live, so long as Tenedos and Ida 23 shall stand ; so long 
as Simois shall roll down to the sea his rapid waves. The 
Ascraean, too, 24 will live, so long as the grape shall swell 
with its juices ; 25 so long as the corn shall fall, reaped by the 
curv ng sickle. The son of Battus 26 will to all time be sung 
throughout the whole world ; although he is not powerful in 
genius, m his skill he shows his might. No mischance will 
ever come to the tragic buskin 27 of Sophocles ; with the Sun 
and Moon Aratus 28 will ever exist. So long as the deceitful 

S1 My tongue for hire.'} — Ver. 6. Although the ' patronus pleaded the 
cause of the ' cliens,' without reward, still, by the use of the word ' pros- 
tituisse,' Ovid implies that the services of the advocate were often sold 
at a price. It must be remembered, that Ovid had been educated for the 
Roman bar, which he had left in disgust. 

22 Maonian bard."] — Ver. 9. Strabo says, that Homer was a native 
of Smyrna, which was a city of Maeonia, a province of Phrygia. But 
Plutarch says, that he was called ' Maeonius,' from Maeon, a king of 
Lydia, who adopted him as his son. 

23 Tenedos and Ida.] — Ver. 10. Tenedos, Ida, and Simois, were the 
scenes of some portions of the Homeric narrative. The first was near 
Troy, in sight of it, as Virgil says — • est in conspectu Tenedos.' 

24 The Ascrcean, too.] — Ver. 11. Hesiod of Ascraea, in Bceotia, wrote 
chiefly upon agricultural subjects. See the Pontic Epistles, Book iv. ep. 
xiv. 1. 38. 

25 With its juices.] — Ver. 11. The'mustum' was the pure juice of 
the grape before it was boiled down and became ' sapa,' or ' defrutum.' 
See the Fasti, Book iv. 1. 779, and the Note to the passage. 

25 The son of Battus.] — Ver. 13. As to the poet CalUmachus, the son 
of Battus, see the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 367, and the Ibis, 1. 55. 

27 To the tragic buskin.] —Ver. 15. On the ' cothurnus,' or ' buskin,' see 
the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 393, and the Note to the passage. Sophocles was one 
of the most famous of the Athenian Tragedians. He is supposed to have 
composed more than one hundred and twenty tragedies, of which only 
seven are remaining. 

28 Aratus.] — Ver. 16. Aratus was a Greek poet, a native of Cilicia, 
in Asia Minor. He wrote some astronomical poems, of which one, called 
' Phenomena,' still exists. His style is condemned by Quintilian, although 
it is here praised by Ovid. His ' Phaenomena' was translated into Latin by 
Cicero, Germanicus Caesar, and Sextus Avienus. 



300 THE AMOEES ; [b. I. 

slave, 29 the harsh father, the roguish procuress, and the co- 
zening courtesan shall endure, Menander will exist. Ennius, 30 
without any art, and Accius, 31 with his spirited language, have 
a name that will perish with no lapse of time. 

What age is to be forgetful of Varro, 32 and the first ship 
that sailed, and of the golden fleece sought by the chief, the 
son of iEson ? Then will the verses perish of the sublime Lu- 
cretius, 33 when the same day shall give the world to destruction. 
Tityrus, 34 and the harvests, and the arms of iEneas, will be 
read of, so long as thou, Rome, 35 shalt be the ruler of the con- 
quered earth. So long as the flames and the bow shall be the 
arms of Cupid, thy numbers, polished Tibullus, 36 will be repeated. 
Gallus 37 will be known by the West, and Gallus known by the 

29 The deceitful slave.'] — Ver. 17. Although the plays of Menander 
have perished, we can judge from Terence and Plautus, how well he de- 
picted the craftiness of the slave, the severity of the father, the dis- 
honesty of the procuress, and the wheedling ways of the courtesan. Four 
of the plays of Terence are translations from Menander. See the Tristia, 
Book ii. 1. 369, and the Note to the passage. 

z0 Ennius.~\ — Ver. 19. Quintus Ennius was a Latin poet, a Calahrian 
by birth. He flourished about 408 years before Christ. The few frag- 
ments of his works that remain, show the ruggedness and uncouth nature 
of his style. He wrote the Annals of Italy in heroic verse. 

31 Accius.]— Ver. 19. See the Second Book of the Tristia, 1. 359, and 
the Note to the passage. 

33 Of Varro.] — Ver. 21. He refers to Publius Terentius Varro Atta- 
cinus, who wrote on the Argonautie expedition. See the Tristia, Book ii. 
1. 439, and the Pontic Epistles, Book iv. Ep. xvi. 1. 21. 

33 Lucretius.] — Ver. 23. Titus Lucretius Carus is referred to, whose 
noble poem on the Epicurean philosophy is still in existence {translated in 
Bohn's Classical Library). See the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 261 and 426, and 
the Notes to those passages. 

34 Tityrus.]— Ver. 25. Under this name he alludes to Virgil, who 
introduces himself under the name of Tityrus, in his first Eclogue, 
See the Pontic Epistles, Book iv. Ep. xvi. 1. 33. 

35 So long as thou, Rome.] — Ver. 26. His prophecy has been surpassed 
by the event. Rome is no longer the ' caput urbis/ but the works of Virgil 
are still read by all civilized nations. 

36 Polished Tibullus.]— Ver. 28. Albius Tibullus was a Roman poet 
of Equestrian rank, famous for the beauty of his compositions. He was 
born in the same year as Ovid, but died at an early age. Ovid mentions 
him in the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 447 and 463, Book iv. Ep. x. 1. 52, and 
Book v. Ep. i. 1. 18. In the Third Book of the Amores, El. 9, will be 
found his Lament on the death of Tibullus. 

37 Gallus ]— Ver. 29. Cornelius Gallus was a Roman poet of consi- 



E. XV.] OE, AMOTJES. 301 

East, 38 and with Gallus will his Lycoris be known. Though 
flint-stones, then, and though the share of the enduring plough 
perish by lapse of time, yet poetry is exempt from death. 
Let monarchs and the triumphs of monarchs yield to poesy ; 
and let the wealthy shores of the golden Tagus 39 yield. 

Let the vulgar throng admire worthless things ; let the 
yellow-haired Apollo supply for me cups filled from the Cas- 
talian stream ; let me bear, too, on my locks the myrtle that 
dreads the cold ; and let me often be read by the anxious lover. 
Envy feeds upon the living ; after death it is at rest, when 
his own reward protects each according to his merit. Still then, 
when the closing fire 40 shall have consumed me, shall I live 
on ; and a great portion of myself will ever be surviving. 

derable merit. See the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 445, and the Note to the passage, 
and the Am ores, Book hi. El. 1. 

38 By the East.]— Ver. 29. Gallus was the Roman governor of Egypt, 
which was an Eastern province of Rome. 

39 The golden Tagus.'] — Ver. 34. Pliny and other authors make men- 
tion of the golden sands of the Tagus, which flowed through the province 
of Lusitania, now Portugal. 

40 The closing fire.] — Ver. 41. Pliny says that the ancient Romans 
buried the dead ; but in consequence of the bones being disturbed by con- 
tinual warfare, they adopted the system of burning them. 



BOOK THE SECOND. 



ELEGY I. 

He says that he is obliged by Cupid to write of Love instead of the Wars 
of the Giants, upon which subject he had already commenced. 

This work, also, I, Naso, born among the watery Peligni, 1 
have composed, the Poet of my own failings. This work, 
too, has Love demanded. Afar hence, be afar hence, ye 
prudish matrons ; you are not a fitting audience for my wanton 
lines. Let the maiden that is not cold, read me in the pre- 
sence of her betrothed ; the inexperienced boy, too, wounded 
by a passion hitherto unknown ; and may some youth, now 
wounded by the bow by which I am, recognise the con- 
scious symptoms of his flame ; and after long wondering, may 
he exclaim, " Taught by what informant, has this Poet been 
composing my own story ?" 

I was (I remember) venturing to sing of the battles of the 
heavens, and Gyges 2 with his hundred hands ; and I had 
sufficient power of expression ; what time the Earth so dis- 
gracefully avenged herself, and lofty Ossa, heaped upon 
Olympus, bore Pelion headlong downwards. Having the 
clouds in my hands, and wielding the lightnings with Jove, 
which with success he was to hurl in behalf of his realms of 
the heavens, my mistress shut her door against me ; the light- 
nings together with Jove did I forsake. Jupiter himself dis- 
appeared from my thoughts. Pardon me, Jove ; no aid 
did thy weapons afford me ; the shut door was a more potent 
thunderbolt than thine. I forthwith resumed the language 
of endearment and trifling Elegies, those weapons of my own ; 
and gentle words prevailed upon the obdurate door. 

Verses bring down 3 the horns of the blood-stained Moon ; 

1 The watery Peligni.] — Ver. 1. In the Fourth Book of the Fasti, 1. 
81, and the Fourth Book of the Tristia, 1. x. El. 3, he mentions Sulmo, 
a town of the Peligni, as the place of his birth. It was noted for its 
many streams or rivulets. 

2 And Gyges.] — Ver. 12. This giant was more generally called Gyas. 
He and his hundred-handed brothers, Briareus and Caeus, were the sons 
of Coelus and Terra. 

3 Verses bring down."] — Ver. 23. He alludes to the power of magic 
spells, and attributes their efficacy to their being couched in poetic measures; 
from which circumstance thev received the name of ' carmina.' 



E. II.] THE AMOBES ; OB, AMOTJBS. 303 

and they recall the snow-white steeds of the Sun in his career. 
Through verses do serpents burst, their jaws rent asunder, 
and the water turned back flows upward to its source. 
Through verses have doors given way ; and by verses 4 was 
the bar, inserted in the door-post, although 'twas made of 
oak, overcome. Of what use is the swift Achilles celebrated 
by me ? What can this or that son of Atreus do for me ? He, 
too, who wasted as many of his years in wandering as in war- 
fare ? And the wretched Hector, dragged by the Haemonian 
steeds ? But the charms of the beauteous fair being ofttimes 
sung, she presents herself to the Poet as the reward of his verse. 
This great recompense is given ; farewell, then, ye illustrious 
names of heroes ; your favour is of no use to me. Ye charm- 
ing fair, turn your eyes to my lines, which blushing Cupid 
dictates to me. 



ELEGY II. 

Hb has seen a lady walking in the portico of the temple of Apollo, and 
has sent to know if he may wait upon her. She has replied that it is 
quite impossible, as the eunuch Bagoiis is set to watch her. Ovid 
here addresses Bagoiis, and endeavours to persuade him to relax his 
watch over the fair ; and shows him how he can do so with safety. 

Bagotts, 5 with whom is the duty of watching over your mis- 
tress, give me your attention, while I say a few but suitable 
words to you. Yesterday morning I saw a young lady walking 
in that portico which contains the choir of the daughters of 
Danaus. 6 At once, as she pleased me, I sent to her, and in 

4 And by verses.! — Ver. 28. He means to say that in the same manner 
as magic spells have brought down the moon, arrested the sun, and turned 
back rivers towards their source, so have his Elegiac strains been as wonder- 
fully successful in softening the obduracy of Ms mistress. 

5 Bagoiis.'] — Ver. 1. The name Bagoas, or, as it* is here Latinized, 
Bagoiis, is said to have signified, in the Persian language, ' an eunuch.' 
It was probably of Chaldaean origin, having that meaning. As among the 
Eastern nations of the present day, the more jealous of the Romans con- 
fided the care of their wives or mistresses to eunuch slaves, who were pur- 
chased at a very large price. 

6 Daughters of Danaus.] — Ver. 4. The portico under the temple of 
Apollo, on the Palatine Hill, was adorned with the statues of Danaus, the 
son of Belus, and his forty-nine guilty daughters. It was built by Augustus, 
on a spot adjoining to his palace. Ovid mentions these statues in the 
Third Elegy of the Third Book of the Tristia, 1. 10. 



304 THE AMOKES ; [b. II. 

my letter I proffered my request ; with trembling hand, she an- 
swered me, " I cannot." And to my inquiry, why she could 
not, the cause was announced ; namely, that your surveillance 
over your mistress is too strict. 

keeper, if you are wise (believe me now), cease to de- 
serve my hatred ; every one wishes him gone, of whom he 
stands in dread. Her husband, too, is not in his senses ; for 
who would toil at taking care of that of which no part is lost, 
even if you do not watch it ? But still, in his madness, let 
him indulge his passion ; and let him believe that the object 
is chaste which pleases universally. By your favour, liberty 
may by stealth be given to her ; that one day she may return 
to you what you have given her. Are you ready to be a 
confidant ; the mistress is obedient to the slave. You fear to 
be an accomplice ; you may shut your eyes. Does she read a 
letter by herself ; suppose her mother to have sent it. Does 
a stranger come ; bye and bye let him go, 7 as though an old 
acquaintance. Should she go to visit a sick female friend, 
who is not sick ; in your opinion, let her be unwell. If she 
shall be a long time at the sacrifice, 8 let not the long waiting 
tire you ; putting your head on your breast, you can snore 
away. And don't be enquiring what can be going on at the 
temple of the linen-clad Isis ; 9 nor do you stand in any fear 
whatever of the curving theatres. 

An accomplice in the escapade will receive everlasting 
honour ; and what is less trouble than merely to hold your 
tongue ? He is in favour ; he turns the house 10 upside down 
at his pleasure, and he feels no stripes ; he is omnipotent ; 
the rest, a scrubby lot, are grovelling on. By him, that the real 

7 Let him go.~\ — Ver. 20. ' Eat ' seems here to mean ' let him go 
away ' from the house ; but Nisard's translation renders it ' qu'il entre,' 
' let him come in.' 

8 At the sacrifice.'] — Ver. 23. It is hard to say what ' si faciet tarde' 
means : it perhaps applies to the rites of Isis, mentioned in the 25th line. 
' If she shall be slow in her sacrifice/ 

9 Linen-clad Ms.] — Ver. 25. See the 74th line of the Eighth Elegy of 
the preceding Book, and the Note to the passage ; and the Pontic Epistles, 
Book i. line 51, and the Note. The temple of Isis, at Rome, was in the 
Campus Martius, or Field of Mars, near the sheep market. It was noted 
for the intrigues and assignations of which it was the scene. 

10 He turns the house.]— Ver. 29. As the Delphin Editor says, ' II peut 
renverser la maison/ * he can turn the house upside down.' 



E. III.] OE, AMOTJES. 305 

circumstances may be concealed, false ones are coined ; and 
both the masters approve 11 of, what one, and that the mistress, 
approves of. When the husband has quite contracted his 
brow, and has pursed up his wrinkles, the caressing fair 
makes him become just as she pleases. But still, let her 
sometimes contrive some fault against you even, and let 
her pretend tears, and call you an executioner. 12 Do you, on 
the other hand, making some charge which she may easily ex- 
plain ; by a feigned accusation remove all suspicion of the 
truth. 13 In such case, may your honours, then may your 
limited savings 14 increase ; only do this, and in a short time 
you shall be a free man. 

You behold the chains bound around the necks of in- 
formers ; 15 the loathsome gaol receives the hearts that are 
unworthy of belief. In the midst of water Tantalus is in want 
of water, and catches at the apples as they escape him ; 'twas 

11 The masters approve.] — Ver. 30. He means to say that the eunuch 
and his mistress will be able to do just as they please. 

12 An executioner.'] — Ver. 36. To blind the husband, by pretending 
harshness on the part of Bagoiis. 

13 Of the truth.] — Ver. 38 This line is corrupt, and there are about 
ten various readings. The meaning, however, is clear ; he is, by making 
false charges, to lead the husband away from a suspicion of the truth ; 
and to put him, as we say, in common parlance, on the wrong scent. 

14 Your limited savings.] — Ver. 39. ' Peculium,' here means the stock 
of money which a slave, with the consent of his master, laid up for his 
own, ' his savings.' The slaves of the Romans being not only employed 
in domestic offices and the labours of the field, but as agents or factors 
for their masters, in the management of business, and as mechanics and 
artisans in various trades, great profits were made through them. As 
they were often entrusted with a large amount of property, and consider- 
able temptations were presented to their honesty, it became the practice 
to allow the slave to consider a part of his gains, perhaps a per centage, 
as his own ; this was termed his ' peculium.' According to the strict 
letter of the law, the ' peculium' was the property of the master, but, by 
usage, it was looked upon as the property of the slave. It was sometimes 
agreed upon between the master and slave, that the latter should purchase 
his liberty with his ' peculium,' when it amounted to a certain sum. If 
the slave was manumitted by the owner in his lifetime, his ' peculium ' was 
considered to be given him, with his liberty, unless it was expressly re- 
tained. 

15 Necks of informers.] — Ver. 41. He probably alludes to informers 
who have given false evidence. He warns Bagoiis of their fate, intend- 
ing to imply tbat both his mistress and himself will deny all, if he should 
attempt to criminate them. 

I 



306 THE AMOEES ; [B. II. 

his blabbing tongue caused this. 25 While the keeper ap- 
pointed by Juno, 26 is watching Io too carefully, he dies be- 
fore his time ; she becomes a Goddess. 

I have seen him wearing fetters on his bruised legs, 
through whom a husband was obliged to know of an in- 
trigue. The punishment was less than his deserts ; an unruly 
tongue was the injury of the two ; the husband was grieved ; 
the female suffered the loss of her character. Believe me ; ac- 
cusations are pleasing to no husband, and no one do they 
delight, even though he should listen to them. If he is indif- 
ferent, then you are wasting your information upon ears that 
care nothing for it ; if he dotes on her, by your officiousness 
is he made wretched. 

Besides, a faux pas, although discovered, is not so easily 
proved ; she comes before him, protected by the prejudices 
of her judge. Should even he himself see it, still he himself 
will believe her as she denies it ; and he will condemn his 
own eyesight, and will impose upon himself. Let him but 
see the tears of his spouse, and he himself will weep, and 
he will say, " That blabbing fellow shall be punished." How 
unequal the contest in which you embark ! if conquered, 
stripes are ready for you ; while she is reposing in the bosom 
of the judge. 

No crime do we meditate ; we meet not for mixing poisons ; 
my hand is not glittering with the drawn sword. We ask 
that through you we may be enabled to love in safety ; what 
can there be more harmless than these our prayers ? 



ELEGY III. 

He again addresses Bagoiis, who has proved obdurate to his request, and 
tries to effect his object by sympathising with his unhappy fate. 

Alas ! that, 27 neither man nor woman, you are watching your 
mistress, and that you cannot experience the mutual trans- 

25 Tongue caused this,'] — Ver. 44. According to one account, his pun- 
ishment was inflicted for revealing the secrets of the Gods. 

2(3 Appointed by Juno.'] — Ver. 45. This was Argus, whose fate is re- 
lated at the end of the First Book of the Metamorphoses. 

27 Alas! that.] — Ver. 1. He is again addressing Bagoiis, and begins 
in a strain of sympathy, since his last letter has proved of no avail with 
the obdurate eunuch. 



E. IT.] OS, AMOXJES. 307 

ports of love ! He who was the first to mutilate boys, 28 ought 
himself to have suffered those wounds which he made. You 
would be ready to accommodate, and obliging to those who 
entreat you, had your own passion been before inflamed by 
any fair. You were not born for managing, the steed, nor 
are you skilful in valorous arms ; for your right hand the 
warlike spear is not adapted. With these let males meddle ; 
do you resign all manly aspirations ; may the standard be 
borne 29 by you in the cause of your mistress. 

Overwhelm her with your favours ; her gratitude may be of 
use to you. If you should miss that, what good fortune will 
there be for you 1 She has both beauty, and her years are fitted 
for dalliance ; her charms are not deserving to fade in listless 
neglect. Ever watchful though you are deemed, still she may 
deceive you ; what two persons will, does not fail of accom- 
plishment. Still, as it is more convenient to try you with our 
entreaties, we do implore you, while you have still the op- 
portunity of conferring your favours to advantage. 30 



ELEGY IV. 

He confesses that he is an universal admirer of the fair sex. 
I would not presume to defend my faulty morals, and to 
wield deceiving arms in behalf of my frailties. I confess them, 
if there is any use in confessing one's errors ; and now, having 
confessed, I am foolishly proceeding to my own accusation. 
I hate this state ; nor, though I wish, can I be otherwise 
than what I hate. Alas ! how hard it is to bear a lot which 
you wish to lay aside ! For strength and self-control fail me 
for ruling myself ; just like a ship carried along the rapid 
tide, am I hurried away. 

There is no single style of beauty which inflames my pas- 
sion ; there are a hundred causes for me always to be in love. 

28 Mutilate boys.'] — Ver. 3. According to most accounts, Semiramis 
was the first who put in practice this abominable custom. 

29 Standard be borne.'] — Ver. 10. He means, that he is bound, with his 
mistress to follow the standard of Cupid, and not of Mars. 

30 Favours to advantage.] — Ver. 13. ' Ponere ' here means, literally, 
' to put out at interest.' He tells the eunuch that he has now the oppor- 
tunity of conferring obligations, which will bring him in a good interest 
by way of return. 

x 2 



308 TILE AMOEES ; [b. IT. 

Is there any fair one that casts down her modest eyes? I am 
on fire ; and that very modesty becomes an ambush against 
me. Is another one forward ; then I am enchanted, because 
she is not coy ; and her liveliness raises all my expectations. 
If another seems to be prudish, and to imitate the repulsive 
Sabine dames ; 32 I think that she is kindly disposed, but that 
she conceals it in her stateliness. 33 Or if you are a learned 
fair, you please me, thus endowed with rare acquirements ; 
or if ignorant, you are charming for your simplicity. Is 
there one who says that the lines of Callimachus are un- 
couth in comparison with mine ; at once she, to whom I am 
so pleasing, pleases me. Is there even one who abuses both 
myself, the Poet, and my lines ; I could wish to have her 
who so abuses me, upon my knee. Does this one walk 
leisurely, she enchants me with her gait ; is another uncouth, 
still, she may become more gentle, on bemg more intimate 
with the other sex. 

Because this one sings so sweetly, and modulates her voice 34 
with such extreme ease, I could wish to steal a kiss from her 
as she sings. Another is running through the complaining 
strings with active finger ; who could not fall in love with 
hands so skilled 1 And now, one pleases by her gestures, and 
moves her arms to time, 35 and moves her graceful sides with 
languishing art in the dance ; to say nothing about myself, 

32 Sabine dames.'] — Ver. 15. Juvenal, in his Tenth Satire, 1. 293, men- 
tions the Sabine women as examples of prudence and chastity. 

33 In her stateliness.'] — Ver. 16. Burmann would have ' ex alto ' to 
mean ' ex alto pectore,' ' from the depths of her breast.' In such case 
the phrase will correspond with our expression, ' to dissemble deeply,' ' to 
be a deep dissembler.' 

34 Modulates her voice.] — Ver. 25. Perhaps ' flectere vocem ' means 
what we technically call, in the musical art, ' to quaver.' 

35 Her arms to time.] — Ver. 29. Dancing was, in general, discouraged 
among the Romans. That here referred to was probably the pantomimic 
dance, in which, while all parts of the body were called into action, the 
gestures of the arms and hands were especially used, whence the expressions 
* manus loquacissimi,' ' digiti clamosi,' ' expressive hands,' or ' fingers.' 
During the Republic, and the earlier periods of the Empire, women never 
appeared on the stage, but they frequently acted at the parties of the great. 
As it was deemed disgraceful for a free man to dance, the practice at Rome 
was probably confined to slaves, and the lowest class of the citizens. See 
the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 536, and the Note to the passage. 



E. V.] OE, AMOTJES. 309 

who am excited on every occasion, put Hippolytus 36 there ; 
he would become a Priapus. You, because you are so tall, 
equal the Heroines of old ; 37 and, of large size, you can fill the 
entire couch as you he. Another is active from her short- 
ness ; by both I am enchanted ; both tall and short suit my 
taste. Is one unadorned ; it occurs what addition there might 
be if she was adorned. Is one decked out ; she sets out her 
endowments to advantage. The blonde will charm me ; the 
brunette 3S will charm me too; a Venus is pleasing, even of 
a swarthy colour. Does black hair fall upon a neck of snow ; 
Leda was sightly, with her raven locks. Is the hair flaxen ; 
with her saffron locks, Aurora was charming. To every tra- 
ditional story does my passion adapt itself. A youthful age 
charms me ; an age more mature captivates me ; the former 
is superior in the charms of person, the latter excels in spirit. 
In fine, whatever the fair any person approves of in all 
the City, to all these does my passion aspire. 



ELEGY V. 

He addresses Ms mistress, whom he has detected acting falsely towards 

him. 

Awat with thee, quivered Cupid : no passion is of a value so 
great, that it should so often be my extreme wish to die. It 
is my wish to die, as oft as I call to mind your guilt. Fair 
one, born, alas ! to be a never-ceasing cause of trouble ! It is 
no tablets rubbed out 39 that discover your doings ; no presents 
stealthily sent reveal your criminality. Oh ! would that I might 

36 Hippolytus.] — Ver. 32. Hippolytus was an example of chastitv, 
while Priapus was the very ideal of lustfulness. 

V Heroines of old.] —Ver. 33. He supposes the women of the Heroic 
ages to have been of extremely tall stature. Andromache was remarkable 
for her height. 

3S The brunette.']— Ver. 39. ■ Flava,' when coupled with a female 
name, generally signifies ■ having the hair of a flaxen,' or ■ golden colour' ; 
here, however, it seems to allude to the complexion, though it would be 
difficult to say what tint is meant. Perhaps an American would have no 
difficulty in translating it ' a yellow girl.' In the 43rd line, he makes 
reference to the hair of a ' flaxen,' or ' golden colour.' 

39 Tablets rubbed out.]— Ver. 5. If < deletae' is the correct reading 
here, it must mean ' no tablets from which in a hurry you have rubbed 
otf the writing.' < Non intercepts ' has been suggested, and it would 
certainly better suit the sense. < No intercepted tablets have, &c.' 



310 THEAMOEES; [b. If, 

so accuse you, that, after all, I could not convict you ! All 
wretched me ! and why is my case so sure ? Happy the man 
who boldly dares to defend the object which he loves ; to 
whom his mistress is able to say, "I have done nothing 
wrong." Hard-hearted is he, and too much does he encourage 
his own grief, by whom a blood-stained victory is sought in 
the conviction of the accused. 

To my sorrow, in my sober moments, with the wine on 
table, 42 I myself was witness of your criminality, when you 
thought I was asleep. I saw you both uttering many an ex- 
pression by moving your eyebrows ; 43 in your nods there was 
a considerable amount of language. Your eyes were not 
silent, 44 the table, too, traced over with wine ; 45 nor was the lan- 
guage of the fingers wanting; I understood your discourse, 46 
which treated of that which it did not appear to do ; the 
words, too, preconcerted to stand for certain meanings. And 
now, the tables removed, many a guest had gone away; a couple 
of youths only were there dead drunk. But then I saw you both 
giving wanton kisses ; I am sure that there was billing enough 
on your part ; such, in fact, as no sister gives to a brother of 
correct conduct, but rather such as some voluptuous mistress 
gives to the eager lover ; such as we may suppose that Phoebus 
did not give to Diana, but that Venus many a time gave to 
her own dear Mars. 

" What are you doing V I cried out ; " whither Are you 
taking those transports that belong to me ? On what belongs to 
myself, I will lay the hand of a master. 4 * These delights must 

42 The wine on table."] — Ver. 14. The wine was probably on this oc- 
casion placed on the table, after the ' ccena,' or dinner. The Poet, his 
mistress, and his acquaintance, were, probably, reclining on their respective 
couches ; he probably, pretended to fall asleep to watch, their conduct, 
which may have previously excited his suspicions. 

43 Moving your eyebrows.] — Ver. 15. See the Note to the 19th line 
of the Fourth Elegy of the preceding Book, 

44 Were not silent,] — Ver. 17. See the Note to the 20th line of the 
same Elegy. 

45 Traced over with wine.] — Ver. 18. See the 22nd and 26th lines of 
the same Elegy. 

46 Your discourse.] — Ver. 19. He seems to mean that they were pre- 
tending to be talking on a different subject from that about which they 
were really discoursing, but that he understood their hidden meaning. 
See a similar instance mentioned in the Epistle of Paris to Helen, 1. 241. 

47 Hand of a master.] — Ver. 30. He asserts the same right over her 
favours, that the master (dominus) does over the services of the slave. 



E. V.'J OR, AMOURS. 311 

be in common with you and me, and with me and you ; but 
why does any third person take a share in them V 

This did I say ; and what, besides, sorrow prompted my 
tongue to say ; but the red blush of shame rose on her con- 
scious features ; just as the sky, streaked by the wife of Titho- 
nus, is tinted with red, or the maiden when beheld by her new- 
made husband; 48 just as the roses are beauteous when mingled 
among their encircling lilies ; or when the Moon is suffering 
from the enchantment of her steeds ; 49 or the Assyrian ivory 50 
which the Mseonian woman has stained, 51 that from length of 
time it may not turn yellow. That complexion of hers was ex- 
tremely like to these, or to some one of these ; and, as it hap- 
pened, she never was more beauteous than then. She looked to- 
wards the ground ; to look upon the ground, added a charm ; 
sad were her features, in her sorrow was she graceful. I had 
been tempted to tear her locks just as they were, (and nicely 
dressed they were) and to make an attack upon her tender 
cheeks. 

When I looked on her face, my strong arms fell powerless ; 
by arms of her own was my mistress defended. I, who the 
moment before had been so savage, now, as a suppliant and of 
my own accord, entreated that she would give me kisses not 
inferior to those given to my rival. She smiled, and with 
heartiness she gave me her best kisses ; such as might have 
snatched his three-forked bolts from Jove. To my misery I 
am now tormented, lest that other person received them in 
equal perfection ; and I hope that those were not of this 
quality. 52 

43 New-made husband.] — Ver. 36. Perhaps this refers to the moment 
of taking off the bridal veil, or ' flammeum,' when she has entered her 
husband's house. 

49 Of her steeds.'] — Ver. 38. "When the moon appeared red, probably 
through a fog, it was supposed that she was being subjected to the spells of 
witches and enchanters. 

50 Assyrian ivory.] — Ver. 40. As Assyria adjoined India, the word 
' Assyrium ' is here used by poetical licence, as really meaning ' Indian.' 

51 Woman has stained.] — Ver. 40. From this we learn that it was the 
custom of the Lydians to tint ivory of a pink colour, that it might not 
turn yellow with age. 

52 Of this quality. — Ver. 54. ' Nota,' here mentioned, is literally the 
mark which was put upon the ' amphorae,' or ' cadi,' the • casks ' of the an- 
cients, to denote the kind, age, or quality of the wine. Hence the word 
figuratively means, as in the present instance, ' sort/ or ' quality.' Our 



312 THE AMOEES; [b. II. 

Those kisses, too, were far better than those which I taught 
her ; and she seemed to have learned something new. That 
they were too delightful, is a bad sign ; that so lovingly were 
your lips joined to mine, «wc?mine to yours. And yet, it is not 
at this alone that I am grieved ; I do not only complain that 
kisses were given ; although I do complain as well that they 
were given ; such could never have been taught but on a 
closer acquaintanceship. I know not who is the master that 
has received a remuneration so ample. 



ELEGY VI. 

He laments the death of the parrot which he had given to Corinna. 
The parrot, the imitative bird 53 sent from the Indians of the 
East, is dead ; come in flocks to his obsequies, ye birds. Come, 
affectionate denizens of air, and beat your breasts with your 
wings; and with your hard claws disfigure your delicate features. 
Let your rough feathers be torn in place of your sorrowing 
hair ; instead of the long trumpet, 54 let your songs resound. 

Why, Philomela, are you complaining of the cruelty of Tereus, 
the Ismarian tyrant ? Surely, that grievance is worn out by its 
length of years. Turn your attention to the sad end of a 
bird so prized. Itys is a great cause of sorrow, but, still, 

word ' brand ' has a similar meaning. The finer kinds of wine were 
drawn off from the ' dolia,' or large vessels, in which they were kept 
into the ' amphorae,' which were made of earthenware or glass, and the 
mouth of the vessel was stopped tight by a plug of wood or cork, which 
was made impervious to the atmosphere by being rubbed over with pitch, 
clay, or a composition of gypsum. On the outside, the title of the wine 
was painted, the date of the vintage being denoted by the names of the 
Consuls then in office : and when the vessels were of glass, small tickets, 
called ' pittacia,' were suspended from them, stating to a similar effect. 
For a full account of the ancient wines, see Dr. Smith's Dictionary of 
Greek and Roman Antiquities. 

53 The imitative bird.} — Ver. 1. Statius,in his Second Book, calls the 
parrot ' Humana? sollers imitator linguae,' ' the clever imitator of the human 
voice.' 

54 The long trumpet.'] — Ver. 6. We learn from Aulus Gellius, that the 
trumpeters at funerals were called ' siticines.' They headed the funeral 
procession, playing mournful strains on the long trumpet, ' tuba,' here 
mentioned. These were probably in addition to the ' tibicines,' or ' pipers,' 
whose number was limited to ten by Appius Claudius, the Censor. See 
the Sixth Book of the Fasti, 1. 653. 



E. VI.] OE, AMOUES. 313 

that so old. All, who poise yourselves in your career in the 
liquid air ; but you, above the rest, affectionate turtle-dove, 60 
lament him. Throughout life there was a firm attachment 
between you, and your prolonged and lasting friendship endured 
to the end. What the Phocian youth 61 was to the Argive 
Orestes, the same, parrot, was the turtle-dove to you, so long 
as it was allowed by fate. 

But what matters that friendship ? What the beauty of 
your rare plumage ? What your voice so ingenious at imitating 
sounds ? What avails it that ever since you were given, you 
pleased my mistress ? Unfortunate pride of all birds, you are 
indeed laid low. With your feathers you could outvie the 
green emerald, having your purple beak tinted with the ruddy 
saffron. There was no bird on earth more skilled at imitating 
sounds ; so prettily 62 did you utter words with your lisping 
notes. 

Through envy, you were snatched away from us : you were 
the cause of no cruel wars ; you were a chatterer, and the 
lover of peaceful concord. See, the quails, amid all their 
battles, 63 live on ; perhaps, too, for that reason, they be- 
come old. With a very little you were satisfied ; and, through 
your love of talking, you could not give time to your mouth 
for much food. A nut was your food, and poppies the cause 
of sleep ; and a drop of pure water used to dispel your thirst. 
The gluttonous vulture lives on, the kite, too, that forms its 
circles in the air, and the jackdaw, the foreboder 64 of the 

80 Affectionate turtle-dove.'} — Ver. 12. This turtle-dove and the par- 
rot had been brought up in the same cage together. He probably refers 
to these birds in the thirty-eighth line of the Epistle of Sappho to Phaon 
where he mentions the turtle-dove as being black. This Elegy is re- 
markable for its simplicity and pathetic beauty, and can hardly fail to 
remind the reader of Cowper's Elegies, on the death of the bullfinch, and 
that of his pet hare. 

61 The Phocian youth.] — Ver. 15. He alludes to the friendship of 
Orestes and Pylades the Phocian, the son of Strophius. 

62 So prettily.'] — Ver. 24. ' Bene ' means here, ' prettily,' or ' cleverly,' 
rather than ' distinctly,' which would be inconsistent with the signification 
of blsesus. 

63 All their battles^] — Ver. 27. Aristotle, in the Eighth Chapter of 
the Ninth Book of his Histoiy of Animals, describes quails or ortolans, 
and partridges, as being of quarrelsome habits, and much at war among 
themselves. 

64 The foreboder.'] — Ver. 34. Festus Avienus, in his Prognostics, 
mentions the jackdaw as foreboding rain by its chattering. 



314 THE AMOEES ; [fi. IT. 

shower of rain. The crow, too, lives on, hateful to the armed 
Minerva ; 66 it, indeed, will hardly die after nine ages. 67 The 
prattling parrot is dead, the mimic of the human voice, sent 
as a gift from the ends of the earth. What is best, is gene- 
rally first carried off by greedy hands ; what is worthless, 
fills its destined numbers. 68 Thersites was the witness of 
the lamented death of him from Phylax ; and now Hector 
became ashes, while his brothers yet lived. 

Why should I mention the affectionate prayers of my anx- 
ious mistress in your behalf ; prayers borne over the seas by 
the stormy North wind ? The seventh day was come, 69 that 
was doomed to give no morrow ; and now stood your Destiny, 
with her distaff all uncovered. And yet your words did not 
die away, in your faltering mouth ; as you died, your tongue 
cried aloud, "Corinna, farewell!" 70 

At the foot of the Elysian hill 71 a grove, overshaded with 
dark holm oaks, and the earth, moist with never-dying grass, 
is green. If there is any believing in matters of doubt, that 
is said to be the abode of innocent birds, from which obscene 
ones are expelled. There range far and wide the guiltless 
swans ; the long-lived Phoenix, too, ever the sole bird of its 
kind. There the bird itself of Juno unfolds her feathers ; the 
gentle dove gives kisses to its loving mate. Received in this 
home in the groves, amid these the Parrot attracts the guile- 
less birds by his words. 72 

66 Armed Minerva.'] — Ver. 35. See the story of the Nymph Coronis, 
in the Second Book of the Metamorphoses. 

67 After nine ages.~\ — Ver. 36. Pliny makes the life of the crow to 
last for a period of three hundred years. 

68 Destined numbers J] — Ver. 40. 'Numeri' means here, the similar 
parts of one whole : ' the allotted portions of human life.' 

69 Seventh day was come.] — Ver. 45. Hippocrates, in his Aphorisms, 
mentions the seventh, fourteenth, and twentieth, as the critical days in a 
malady. Ovid may here possibly allude to the seventh day of fasting, 
which Was supposed to terminate the existence of the person so doing. 

70 Corinna, farewell /] — Ver. 48. It may have said ' Corinna ;' but Ovid 
must excuse us if we decline to believe that it said ' vale,' ' farewell,' also ; 
unless, indeed, it had been in the habit of saying so before ; this, perhaps, 
may have been the case, as it had probably often heard the Poet say 
' vale' to his mistress. 

71 The Elysian hill.] — Ver. 49. He kindly imagines a place for the 
souls of the birds that are blessed. 

72 By his words.] — Ver. 58. His calling around him, in human ac- 



E. VII.] 0"R, AMOTTKS. 315 

A sepulchre covers his bones ; a sepulchre small as his body ; 
on which a little stone has this inscription, well suited to itself : 
" From this very tomb 77 1 may be judged to have been the fa- 
vorite of my mistress. I had a tongue more skilled at talking 
than other birds." 



ELEGY VII. 

He attempts to convince his mistress, who suspects the contrary, that he 
is not in love with her handmaid Cypassis. 

Am I then 78 to be for ever made the object of accusation by 
new charges ? Though I should conquer, yet ' I am tired of 
entering the combat so oft. Do I look up to the very top 
of the marble theatre, from the multitude, you choose some 
woman, from whom to receive a cause of grief. Or does some 
beauteous fair look on me with inexpressive features ; you find 
out that there are secret signs on the features. Do I praise 
any one ; with your nails you attack her ill-starred locks ; if 
I blame any one, you think I am hiding some fault. If my 
colour is healthy, then I am pronounced to be indifferent to- 
wards you ; if unhealthy, then I am said to be dying with 
love for another. But I only wish I was conscious to myself 
of some fault ; those endure punishment with equanimity, 
who are deserving of it. Now you accuse me without cause ; 
and by believing every thing at random, you yourself forbid 
your anger to be of any consequence. See how the long- 
eared ass, 79 in his wretched lot, walks leisurely along, although 
tyrannized over with everlasting blows. 

And lo ! a fresh charge ; Cypassis, so skilled at tiring, 80 is 

cents, the other birds in the Elysian fields, is ingeniously and beautifully 
imagined. 

77 This very tomb.'] — Ver. 61. This and the following line are con- 
sidered by Heinsius to be spurious, and, indeed, the next line hardly looks 
like the composition of Ovid. 

78 Am I then.] — Ver. 1. ' Ergo' here is very expressive. ' Am I always 
then to be made the subject of fresh charges V 

79 Long-eared ass.] — Ver. 15. Perhaps the only holiday that the 
patient ass got throughout the year, was in the month of June, when the 
festival of Vesta was celebrated, and to which Goddess he had rendered 
an important service. See the Sixth Book of the Fasti, 1. 311, et seq. 

80 Skilled at tiring.] — Ver. 17. She was the 'ornatrix,' or 'tiring 
woman' of Corinna. As slaves very often received their names from 



316 THE AMORES. [E. II. 

blamed for having been the supplanter of her mistress. May 
the Gods prove more favourable, than that if I should have any 
inclination for a faux pas, a low-born mistress of a despised 
class should attract me ! What free man would wish to have 
amorous intercourse with a bondwoman, and to embrace a 
body mangled with the whip ? 87 Add, too, that she is skilled in 
arranging your hair, and is a valuable servant to you for the 
skill of her hands. And would I, forsooth, ask such a thing 
of a servant, who is so faithful to you 1 And for why ? Only 
that a refusal might be united to a betrayal ? I swear by 
Venus, and by the bow of the winged boy, that I am accused 
of a crime which I never committed. 



ELEGY VIII. 

He wonders how Corinna has discovered his intrigue with Cypassis, her 
handmaid, and tells the latter how ably he has defended her and 
himself to her mistress. 

CvPASsis, perfect in arranging the hair in a thousand fash- 
ions, but deserving to adorn the Goddesses alone ; discovered, 
too, by me, in our delightful intrigue, to be no novice ; useful, 
indeed, to your mistress, but still more serviceable to myself ; 
who, I wonder, was the informant of our stolen caresses ? 
Whence was Corinna made acquainted with your escapade ? 
Is it that I have blushed ? Is it that, making a slip in any ex- 
pression, I have given any guilty sign of our stealthy amours ? 
And have I not, too, declared that if any one can commit 
the sin with a bondwoman, that man must want a sound 
mind? 

The Thessalian was inflamed by the beauty of the captive 
daughter of Brises ; the slave priestess of Phcebus was beloved 
by the general from Mycense. I am not greater than the 
descendant of Tantalus, nor greater than Achilles ; why 
should I deem that a disgrace to me, which was becoming for 
monarchs ? 

articles of dress, Cypassis was probably so called from the garment 
called ' cypassis,' in Greek TLvitckjoiq, which was worn by women and men 
of effeminate character, and extended downwards to the ancles. 

87 With the whip.'] — Ver. 22. From this we see that the whip was 
applied to the female slaves, as well as the males. 



E. VIII.] OR, AMOURS. 317 

But when she fixed her angry eyes upon you, I saw you 
blushing all over your cheeks. But, if, perchance, you re- 
member, with how much more presence of mind did I my- 
self make oath by the great Godhead of Venus ! Do thou, 
Goddess, do thou order the warm South winds to bear away 
over the Carpathian ocean 88 the perjuries of a mind unsullied. 
In return for these services, swarthy Cypassis, 89 give me a 
sweet reward, your company to-day. Why refuse me, ungrate- 
ful one, and why invent new apprehensions ? 'Tis enough to 
have laid one of your superiors under an obligation. But if, 
in your folly, you refuse me, as the informer, I will tell what 
has taken place before ; and I myself will be the betrayer of 
my own failing. And I will tell Cypassis, in what spots I have 
met you, and how often, and in ways how many and what. 



ELEGY IX. 

To Cupid. 

Cupid, never angered enough against me, boy, that hast 
taken up thy abode in my heart ! why dost thou torment me, 
who, thy soldier, have never deserted thy standards ? And 
why, in my own camp, am I thus wounded ? Why does thy 
torch burn, thy bow pierce, thy friends? 'Twere a greater 
glory to conquer those who war with thee. Nay more, 
did not the Hsemonian hero, afterwards, relieve him, when 
wounded, with his healing aid, whom he had struck with his 
spear ? 90 The hunter follows the prey that flies, that which 
is caught he leaves behind ; and he is ever on the search 
for still more than he has found. We, a multitude devoted to 
thee, are too well acquainted with thy arms ; yet thy tardy 
hand slackens against the foe that resists. Of what use is it 
to be blunting thy barbed darts against bare bones ? for Love 
has left my bones quite bare. Many a man is there free from 
Love, many a damsel, too, free from Love ; from these, with 
great glory, may a triumph be obtained by thee. 

88 Carpathian ocean.'] — Ver. 20. See the Metamorphoses, Book xi. 
1. 249, and the Note to this passage. 

89 Swarthy Cypassis.] — Ver. 22. From this expression, she was pro- 
bably a native of Egypt or Syria. 

90 With his spear.] — Ver. 7. He alludes to the cure of Telephus by 
the aid of the spear of Achilles, which had previously wounded him. 



318 THE AMOEES; [B. II. 

Rome, had she not displayed her strength over the bound- 
less earth, would, even to this day, have been planted thick 
with cottages of thatch. 91 The invalid soldier is drafted off 
to the fields 92 that he has received ; the horse, when free 
from the race, 93 is sent into the pastures ; the lengthened 
docks conceal the ship laid up ; and the wand of repose 91 is 
demanded, the sword laid by. It were time for me, too, who 
have served so oft in love for the fair, now discharged, to be 
living in quiet. 

And yet, if any Divinity were to say to me, ' Live on, re- 
signing love ;' I should decline it ; so sweet an evil are the 
fair. When I am quite exhausted, and the passion has 
faded from my mind, I know not by what perturbation of 
my wretched feelings I am bewildered. Just as the horse that 
is hard of mouth bears his master headlong, as he vainly 
pulls in the reins covered with foam ; just as a sudden gale, 
the land now nearly made, carries out to sea the vessel, as 
she is entering harbour ; so, many a time, does the uncertain 
gale of Cupid bear me away, and rosy Love resumes his 
well-known weapons. Pierce me, boy ; naked am I exposed 
to thee, my arms laid aside ; hither let thy strength be 
directed : here thy right hand tells with effect. Here, as 
though bidden, do thy arrows now spontaneously come ; in 
comparison to myself, their own quiver is hardly so well 
known to them. 

Wretched is he who endures to rest the whole night, and 
who calls slumber a great good. Fool, what is slumber but 

91 Cottages of thatch.']— V er. 18. In the First Book of the Fasti, 1. 199, 
he speaks of the time when ' a little cottage received Quirinus, the be- 
gotten of Mars, and the sedge of the stream afforded him a scanty couch.' 
The straw-thatched cottage of Romulus was preserved at Rome for many 
centuries. See the Fasti, Bookiii. 1. 184, and the Note to the passage. 

92 Off to the fields.]— Ver. 19. The ' emeriti,' or veterans of the Ro- 
man legions, who had served their full time, received a regular discharge, 
which was called ' missio,' together with a bounty, either in money, or an 
allotment of land. Virgil was deprived of his property near Mantua, by 
the officers of Augustus ; and in his first Eclogue, under the name of Ti- 
tyrus, he relates how he obtained restitution of it on applying to the 
Emperor. 

93 Free from the race.] — Ver. 20. Literally, 'the starting place.' 

94 Wand of repose] — Ver. 22. For an account of the 'rudis,' and the 
privilege it conferred, see the Tristia, Book, iv, El. 8. 1. 24. 



E. IX.] OB, AHOUES. 319 

the image of cold death ? The Fates will give abundance of 
time for taking rest. 

Only let the words of my deceiving mistress beguile me ; 
in hoping, at least, great joys shall I experience. And 
sometimes let her use caresses ; sometimes let her find fault ; 
oft may I enjoy the favour of my mistress ; often may I be 
repulsed. That Mars is one so dubious, is through thee, his 
step-son, Cupid ; and after thy example does thy step-father 
wield his arms. Thou art fickle, and much more wavering than 
thy own wings ; and thou both dost give and refuse thy joys at 
thy uncertain caprice. Still if thou dost listen to me, as I en- 
treat thee, with thy beauteous mother ; hold a sway never to 
be relinquished in my heart. May the damsels, a throng too 
flighty by far, be added to thy realms ; then by two peoples 
wilt thou be revered. 



ELEGY X. 

He tells Grsscinus how he is in love with two mistresses at the same 
time. 

Thou wast wont to tell me, Grsecinus 95 (I remember well), 'twas 
thou, I am sure, that a person cannot be in love with two 
females at the same time. Through thee have I been deceived; 
through thee have I been caught without my arms. 96 Lo ! to 
my shame, I am in love with two at the same moment. Both 
of them are charming ; both most attentive to their dress ; 
in skill, 'tis a matter of doubt, whether the one or the other is 
superior. That one is more beauteous than this ; this one, 
too, is more beauteous than that ; and this one pleases me 
the most, and that one the most. The one passion and the 
other fluctuate, like the skiff, 97 impelled by the discordant 

95 GrcecinusJ] — Ver. 1. He addresses three of his Pontic Epistles, 
namely, the Sixth of the First Book, the Sixth of the Second Book, and 
the Ninth of the Fourth Book, to his friend Grsecinus. In the latter 
Epistle, he congratulates him upon his being Consul elect. 

96 Without my arms.'] — Ver. 3. ' Inermis,' may be rendered, ' off my 
guard.' 

97 Like the skiff.] — Ver. 10. ' Phaselos' is perhaps here used as a 
general name for a boat or skiff; but the vessel which was particu- 
larly so called, was long and narrow, and probably received its name 
from its resemblance to a kidney-bean, which was called 'phaselus.' 
The ' phaseli' were chiefly used by the Egyptians, and were of various 



320 THE AMOEES ; [b. II. 

breezes, and keep me distracted. Why, Erycina, dost thou 
everlastingly double my pangs ? Was not one damsel suf- 
ficient for my anxiety ? Why add leaves to the trees, why 
stars to the heavens filled with them 1 Why additional waters 
to the vast ocean ? 

But still this is better, than if I were languishing without 
a flame ; may a life of seriousness be the lot of my foes. 
May it be the lot of my foes to sleep in the couch of solitude, 
and to recline their limbs outstretched in the midst of the 
bed. But, for me, may cruel Love ever disturb my sluggish 
slumbers ; and may I be not the solitary burden of my couch. 
May my mistress, with no one to hinder it, make me die 
with love, if one is enough to be able to do so ; but if one is 
not enough, then two. Limbs that are thin, 1 but not without 
strength, may suffice ; flesh it is, not sinew that my body 
is in want of. Delight, too, will give resources for vigour to 
my sides ; through me has no fair ever been deceived. Often, 
robust through the hours of delicious night, have I proved 
of stalwart body, even in the morn. Happy the man, who 
proves the delights of Love ? Oh that the Gods would grant 
that to be the cause of my end ! 

Let the soldier arm his breast 2 that faces the opposing darts, 
and with his blood let him purchase eternal fame. Let 
the greedy man seek wealth ; and with forsworn mouth, let 
the shipwrecked man drink of the seas which he has wearied 
with ploughing them. But may it be my lot to perish in the 
service of Love : and, when I die, may I depart in the midst 
of his battles ; 3 and may some one say, when weeping at my 
funeral rites : " Such was a fitting death for his life." 

sizes, from that of a mere boat to a vessel suited for a long voyage. 
Appian mentions them as being a medium between ships of war and mer- 
chant vessels. Being built for speed, they were more noted for their 
swiftness than for their strength. Juvenal, Sat. xv., 1. 127, speaks of 
them as being made of clay ; but, of course, that can only refer to ' pha- 
seli' of the smallest kind. 

1 That are thin.'] — Ver 23. The Poet was of slender figure. 

2 Arm his breast.'] — Ver. 31. He alludes to the ' lorica,' or cuirass, 
which was worn by the soldiers. 

3 Of his battles.] — Ver. 36. He probably was thinking at this moment 
of the deaths of Cornelius Gallus, and T. Haterius, of the Equestrian 
order, whose singular end is mentioned by Valerius Maximus, 15. ix., 
c. 12, s. 8, and by Pliny the Elder, B. vii., c. 53. 



35. XI.] OE, AMOUES. 321 

ELEGY XL 

He endeavours to dissuade Corinna from her voyage to Baia?. 

The pine, cut on the heights of Pelion, was the first to teach 
the voyage full of danger, as the waves of the ocean won- 
dered : which, boldly amid the meeting rocks, 4 bore away 
the ram remarkable for his yellow fleece. Oh ! would that, 
overwhelmed, the Argo had drunk of the fatal waves, so that 
no one might plough the wide main with the oar. 

Lo ! Corinna flies from both the well-known couch, and the 
Penates of her home, and prepares to go upon the deceitful 
paths of the ocean. Ah wretched me ! why, for you, must 
I dread the Zephyrs, and the Eastern gales, and the cold 
Boreas, and the warm wind of the South ? There no cities 
will you admire, there no groves ; ever the same is the azure 
appearance of the perfidious main. 

The midst of the ocean has no tiny shells, or tinted pebbles ; 5 
that is the recreation 6 of the sandy shore. The shore alone, 
ye fair, should be pressed with your marble feet. Thus 
far is it safe ; the rest of that path is full of hazard. And let 
others tell you of the warfare of the winds : the waves which 
Scylla infests, or those which Charybdis haunts : from what 
rocky range the deadly Ceraunia projects : in what gulf th 
Syrtes, or in what Malea 7 lies concealed. Of these let others 
tell : but do you believe what each of them relates : no storm 
injures the person who credits them. 

After a length of time only is the land beheld once more, 
when, the cable loosened, the curving ship runs out upon the 
boundless main : where the anxious sailor dreads the stormy 
winds, and sees death as near him, as he sees the waves. What 
if Triton arouses the agitated waves ? How parts the colour, 
then, from all your face ! Then you may invoke the gracious 

4 The meeting rocks.'] — Ver. 3. See the 121st line of the Epistle of 
Medea to Jason, and the Note to the passage. 

5 Tinted pebbles.] — Ver. 13. The ' picti lapilli' are probably carnelians, 
which are found on the sea shore, and are of various tints. 

6 The recreation.] — Ver. 14. 'Mora/ 'delay,' is put here for that 
which causes the delay. ' That is a pleasure which belongs to the shore.' 

' In what Malea.] — Ver. 20. Propertius and Virgil also couple Ma- 
lea, the dangerous promontory on the South of Laconia, with the Syrtes 
or quicksands of the Libyan coast. 

T 



322 THE AMOEES ; [b. II. 

stars of the fruitful Leda : 9 and may say, " Happy she, whom 
her own dry land receives ! 'Tis far more safe to lie snug in 
the couch, 10 to read amusing books, 11 and to sound with one's 
fingers the Thracian lyre." 

But if the headlong gales bear away my unavailing words, 
still may Galatea be propitious to your ship. The loss of 
such a damsel, both ye Goddesses, daughters of Nereus, and 
thou, father of the Nereids, would be a reproach to you. Go, 
mindful of me, on your way, soon to return with favouring 
breezes : may that, a stronger gale, fill your sails. Then may 
the mighty Nereus roll the ocean towards this shore : in this 
direction may the breezes blow : hither may the tide impel 
the waves. Do you yourself entreat, that the Zephyrs may 
come full upon your canvass : do you let out the swelling sails 
with your own hand. 

I shall be the first, from the shore, to see the well-known 
ship, and I shall exclaim, " 'Tis she that carries my Divinities : 12 
and I will receive you in my arms, and will ravish, indiscrimi- 
nately, many a kiss ; the yictim, promised for your return, 
shall fall ; the soft sand shall be heaped, too, in the form of 
a couch ; and some sand-heap shall be as a table 13 for us. 
There, with wine placed before us, you shall tell many a story, 
how your bark was nearly overwhelmed in the midst of the 
waves : and how, while you were hastening to me, you dreaded 
neither the hours of the dangerous night, nor yet the stormy 

9 Stars of the fruitful Leda,] — Ver. 29. Commentators are divided 
upon the exact meaning of this line. Some think that it refers to the 
Constellations of Castor and Pollux, which were considered to he favour- 
able to mariners ; and which Horace mentions in the first line of his 
Third Ode, B. L, ' Sic fratres Helenas, lucida sidera,' ' The brothers of 
Helen, those brilliant stars.' Others think that it refers to the luminous 
appearances which were seen to settle on the masts of ships, and were 
called by the name of Castor and Pollux ; they were thought to be of 
good omen when both appeared, but unlucky when seen singly. 

10 In the couch.] — Ver. 31. • Torus' most probably means in this 
place a sofa, on which the ladies would recline while reading. 

11 Amusing books.] — Ver. 31. By using the diminutive ' libellus' 
here, he probably means some light work, such as a bit of court scandal, 
or a love poem. 

12 My Divinities.]— Ver. 44. See the Second Epistle, 1, 126, and the 
Note to the passage. 

13 As a table.] — Ver. 48. This denotes his impatience to entertain her 
once again, and to hear the narrative of her adventures. 



E. XII.] OK, AMOTJES. 323 

Southern gales. Though they be fictions, 14 yet all will I be- 
lieve as truth ; why should I not myself encourage what is 
my own wish ? May Lucifer, the most brilliant in the lofty 
skies, speedily bring me that day, spurring on his steed. 



ELEGY XII. 

He rejoices in the possession of his mistress, having triumphed over 
every obstacle. 

Come, triumphant laurels, around my temples ; I am victo- 
rious : lo ! in my bosom Corinna is ; she, whom her husband, 
whom a keeper, whom a door so strong, (so many foes !) were 
watching, that she might by no stratagem be taken. This 
victory is deserving of an especial triumph : in which the 
prize, such as it is, is gained without bloodshed. Not lowly 
walls, not towns surrounded with diminutive trenches, but a 
fair damsel has been taken by my contrivance. 

When Pergamus fell, conquered in a war of twice five 
years : 15 out of so many, how great was the share of renown 
for the son of Atreus I But my glory is undivided, and 
shared in by no soldier : and no other has the credit of the 
exploit. Myself the general, myself the troops, I have at- 
tained this end of my desires : I, myself, have been the cavalry, 
I the infantry, I, the standard-bearer too. Fortune, too, has 
mingled no hazard with my feats. Come hither, then, thou 
Triumph, gained by exertions entirely my own. 

And the cause 16 of my warfare is no new one ; had not the 
daughter of Tyndarus been carried off, there would have 
been peace between Europe and Asia. A female disgrace- 
fully set the wild Lapithae and the two-formed race in arms, 
when the wine circulated. A female again, 17 good Latinus, 

14 Though they be fictions.] — Ver. 53. He gives a sly hit here at the 
tales of travellers. 

15 Twice jive years.] — Ver. 9. On the ' lustrum ' of the Romans, see 
the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 166, and the Tristia, Book iv. El. 10. 

10 And the cause.] — Ver, 17. This passage is evidently misunderstood 
in Nisard's translation, ' Je ne serai pas non plus la caus d'une nouvelle 
guerre,' ' I will never more be the cause of a new war.' 

17 A female again ] — Ver. 22. He alludes to the war in Latium, between 
iEneas and Turnus, for the hand of Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus and 
Amata. See the narrative in the Fourteenth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

Y 2 



324 THE AMOEES ; [b. II. 

forced the Trojans to engage in ruthless warfare, in thy realms, 
'Twas the females, 21 when even now the City was but new, 
that sent against the Romans their fathers-in-law, and gave 
them cruel arms. I have beheld the bulls fighting for a snow- 
white mate : the heifer, herself the spectator, afforded fresh 
courage. Me, too, with many others, but still without blood- 
shed, has Cupid ordered to bear the standard in his service. 



ELEGY XIII. 

He entreats the aid of Isis and Lucina in behalf of Corinna, in her 
labour. 

While Corinna, in her imprudence, is trying to disengage 
the burden of her pregnant womb, exhausted, she lies pros- 
trate in danger of her life. She, in truth, who incurred so 
great a risk unknown to me, is worthy of my wrath ; but 
anger falls before apprehension. But yet, by me it was that 
she conceived ; or so I think. That is often as a fact to me, 
which is possible. 

Isis, thou who dost 22 inhabit Parsetonium, 23 and the genial 
fields of Canopus, 24 and Memphis, 25 and palm-bearing Pharos, 26 

21 ''Tivas the females. .] — Ver. 23. The rape of the Sabines, by the 
contrivance of Romulus, is here alluded to. The narrative will be found 
in the Third Book of the Fasti, 1. 203, et seq. It has been suggested, but 
apparently without any good grounds, that Tarpeia is here alluded to. 

22 Thou who dost.] — Ver. 7. Io was said to be worshipped under 
the name of Isis. 

23 Pareetonium.] — Ver. 7. This city was situate at the Canopic mouth 
of the Nile, at the Western extremity of Egypt, adjoining to Libya. Ac- 
cording to Strabo, its former name was Ammonia. It still preserves its 
ancient name in a great degree, as it is called al-Baretoun. 

24 Fields of Canopus.'] — Ver. 7. Canopus was a city at one of the 
mouths of the Nile, now called Aboukir. The epithet ' genialis,' seems 
to have been well deserved, as it was famous for its voluptuousness. Strabo 
tells us that there was a temple there dedicated to Serapis, to which 
multitudes resorted by the canal from Alexandria. He says that the 
canal was filled, night and day, with men and women dancing and play- 
ing music on. board the vessels, with the greatest licentiousness. The 
place was situate on an island of the Nile, and was about fifteen miles 
distant from Alexandria. Ovid gives a similar description of Alexandria, 
in the Tristia, Book i. El. ii. 1. 79. See the Note to the passage. 

25 Memphis.] — Ver. 8. Memphis was a city situate on the North of 
Egypt, on the banks of the Nile. It was said to have been built by Osiris. 

26 Pharos.] — Ver. 8. See the Metamorphoses, Book ix. 1. 772, and 
Book xv. 1. 287, with the Notes to the passages. 



E. XIII.] OB, AMOUES. 325 

and where the rapid Nile, discharged from its vast bed, 
rushes through its seven channels into the ocean waves ; by 
thy * sistra' 28 do I entreat thee ; by the faces, too, of revered 
Anubis ; 29 and then may the benignant Osiris 30 ever love thy 
rites, and may the sluggish serpent 31 ever wreath around thy 
altars, and may the horned Apis 32 walk in the procession as 
thy attendant ; turn hither thy features, 33 and in one have 
mercy upon two ; for to my mistress wilt thou be giving life, 
she to me. Full many a time in thy honour has she sat on 
thy appointed days, 34 on which 35 the throng of the Galli 36 
wreathe themselves with thy laurels. 37 

28 By thy sistra."] — Ver. 11. For an account of the mystic 'sistra' of 
Isis, see the Pontic Epistles, Book i. El. i. 1. 38, and the Note. 

29 Anubis.} — Ver. 11. For an account of Anuhis, the Deity with the 
dog's head, see the Metamorphoses, Book ix. 1. 689, and the Note. 

30 Osiris.] — Ver. 12. See the Metamorphoses, Book ix. 1. 692, and 
the Note to the passage. 

31 The sluggish serpent.] — Ver. 13. Macrohius tells us, that the Egyp- 
tians accompanied the statue of Serapis with that of an animal with three 
heads, the middle one that of a lion, the one to the right, of a dog, and 
that to the left, of a ravenous wolf; and that a serpent was represented 
encircling it in its folds, with its head helow the right hand of the statue 
of the Deity. To this the Poet possibly alludes, or else to the asp, which 
was common in the North of Egypt, and perhaps, was looked upon as 
sacred. If so, it is probable that the word ' pigra,' * sluggish,' refers to 
the drowsy effect produced by the sting of the asp, which was generally 
mortal. This, indeed, seems the more likely, from the fact of the asp 
being clearly referred to, in company with these Deities, in the Ninth 
Book of the Metamorphoses, 1. 93 ; which see, with the Note to the 
passage. 

32 The horned Apis.] — Ver. 14. See the Ninth Book of the Metamor- 
phoses, 1. 691, and the Note to the passage. 

33 Thy features.] — Ver. 15. Isis is here addressed, as being supposed 
to be the same Deity as Diana Lucina, who was invoked by pregnant and 
parturient women. Thus Isis appears to Telethusa, a Cretan woman, in 
her pregnancy, in the Ninth Book of the Metamorphoses, 1. 665, et seq. 

34 Thy appointed days.] — Ver. 17. Votaries who were worshipping in 
the temples of the Deities sat there for a considerable time, especially 
when they attended for the purpose of sacrifice. In the First Book of the 
Pontic Epistles, Ep, i. 1. 50, Ovid says, ' I have beheld one who confessed 
that he had offended the Divinity of Isis, clothed in linen, sitting before 
he altars of Isis.' 

35 On which.] — Ver. 18. ' Queis ' seems a preferable reading to ' qua.' 
3S The Galli.] — Ver. 18. Some suppose that Isis and Cybele were the 

same Divinity, and that the Galli, or priests of Cybele, attended the 
rites of their Goddess under the name of Isis. It seems clear, from the 



326 THE AMORES ; [b. II. 

Thou, too, who dost have compassion on the females who 
are in labour, whose latent burden distends their bodies slowly 
moving ; come, propitious Ilithyia, 38 and listen to my prayers. 
She is worthy for thee to command to become indebted to thee. 
I, myself, in white array, will offer frankincense at thy smoking 
altars ; I, myself, will offer before thy feet the gifts that I 
have vowed. I will add this inscription too; " Naso, for the 
preservation of Corinna, offers these" But if, amid appre- 
hensions so great, I may be allowed to give you advice, let it 
suffice for you, Corinna, to have struggled in this one combat. 



ELEGY XIV. 

He reproaches his mistress for having attempted to procure abortion. 
Op what use is it for damsels to live at ease, exempt from war, 
and not with their bucklers, 39 to have any inclination to follow 
the bloodstained troops ; if, without warfare, they endure 
wounds from weapons of their own, and arm their imprudent 
hands for their own destruction 1 She who was the first to 
teach how to destroy the tender embryo, was deserving to 
perish by those arms of her own. That the stomach, for- 
sooth, may be without the reproach of wrinkles, the sand 
must 40 be lamentably strewed for this struggle of yours. 

If the same custom had pleased the matrons of old, through 
such criminality mankind would have perished ; and he 

present passage, that the priests of Cybele, who were called Galli, did per- 
form the rites of Isis, but there is abundant proof that these were con- 
sidered as distinct Deities. In imitation of the Corybantes, the original 
priests of Cybele, they performed her rites to the sound of pipes and 
tambourines, and ran to and fro in a frenzied manner. 

V With thy laurels.}— Yer. 18. See the Note to the 692nd line of 
the Ninth Book of the Metamorphoses. While celebrating the search for 
the limbs of Osiris, the priests uttered lamentations, accompanied with 
the sound of the ' sistra '; but when they had found the body, they wore 
wreaths of laurel, and uttered cries, signifying their joy. 

38 Ilithyia.'} — Ver. 21. As to the Goddess Ilithyia, see the Ninth Book 
of the Metamorphoses, 1. 283, and the Note to the passage. 

39 With their bucklers.] — Ver. 2. Armed with ' peltae,' or bucklers, 
like the Amazons. 

40 The sand must.~\ — Ver. 8. This figure is derived from the gladia- 
torial fights of the amphitheatre, where the spot on which they fought 
was strewed with sand, both for the purpose of giving a firm footing to 
the gladiators, and of soaking up the blood that was shed; 



E. XIV.] OE, AM0T7RS. 327 

would be required, who should again throw stones 41 on the 
empty earth, for the second time the original of our kind. 
Who would have destroyed the resources of Priam, if Thetis, 
the Goddess of the waves, had refused to bear Achilles, her due 
burden ? If Ilia had destroyed 43 the twins in her swelling 
womb, the founder of the all-ruling City would have perished. 
If Venus had laid violent hands on iEneas in her pregnant 
womb, the earth would have been destitute of its Csesars. 
You, too, beauteous one, might have died at the moment you 
might have been born, if your mother had tried the same ex- 
periment which you have done. I, myself, though destined 
as I am, to die a more pleasing death by love, should have 
beheld no days, had my mother slain me. 

Why do you deprive the loaded vine of its growing grapes ? 
And why pluck the sour apples with relentless hand ? When 
ripe, let them fall of their own accord ; once put forth, let 
them grow. Life is no slight reward for a little waiting. 
Why pierce 43 your own entrails, by applying instruments, 
and ivhy give dreadful poisons to the yet unborn ? People 
blame the Colchian damsel, stained with the blood of her 
sons ; and they grieve for Itys, slaughtered by his own mo- 
ther. Each mother was cruel ; but each, for sad reasons, 
took vengeance on her husband, by shedding their common 
blood. Tell me what Tereus, or what Jason excites you to 
pierce your body with an anxious hand ? 

This neither the tigers do in their Armenian dens, 44 nor does 
the lioness dare to destroy an offspring of her own. But 
delicate females do this, not, however, with impunity ; many 
a time 45 does she die herself, who kills her offspring in the 
womb. She dies herself, and, with her loosened hair, is borne 
upon the bier ; and those whoever only catch a sight of her, 

41 Again throw stones."] — Ver. 12. He alludes to Deucalion and Pyr- 
rha. See the First Book of the Metamorphoses. 

42 Ilia had destroyed] — Ver. 16. Romulus was her son. See her 
story, related at the beginning of the Third Book of the Fasti. 

43 Why pierce.] — Ver. 27. He alludes to the sharp instruments 
which she had used for the purpose of procuring abortion ; a practice 
which Canace tells Macareus that her nurse had resorted to. Epistle xi. 
1. 40—43. 

44 Armenian dens.] — Ver. 35. See the Metamorphoses, Book viii. 
1. 126, and the Note to the passage. 

45 Many a time.] — Ver. 38. He seems here to speak of this practice as 
being frequently resorted to. 



328 THE AMORES ; [b. II. 

cry " She deserved it." 46 But let these words vanish in the air 
of the heavens, and may there be no weight in these presages 
of mine. Ye forgiving Deities, allow her this once to do 
wrong with safety to herself; that is enough ; let a second 
transgression bring its own punishment. 



ELEGY XV. 

He addresses a ring which he has presented to his mistress, and envies 
its happy lot. 

king, 47 about to encircle the finger of the beauteous fair, in 
which there is nothing of value but the affection of 'the giver ; 
go as a pleasing gift ; and receiving you with joyous feelings, 
may she at once place you upon her finger. May you serve 
her as well as she is constant to me ; and nicely fitting, may 
you embrace her finger in your easy circle. Happy ring, 
by my mistress will you be handled. To my sorrow, I am 
now envying my own presents. 

! that I could suddenly be changed into my own present, 
by the arts of her of iEaea, or of the Carpathian old man ! 4S 
Then could I wish you to touch the bosom of my mistress, 
and for her to place her left hand within her dress. Though 
light and fitting well, I would escape from her finger ; and 
loosened by some wondrous contrivance, into her bosom 
would I fall. I too, as well, that I might be able to seal 13 
her secret tablets, and that the seal, neither sticky nor dry, 
might not drag the wax, should first have to touch the lips 50 
of the charming fair. Only I would not seal a note, the 
cause of grief to myself. Should I be given, to be put away 

46 She deserved it.~\ — Ver. 40. From this, it would seem that the prac- 
tice was considered censurable ; but, perhaps it was one of those cases 
whose heinousness is never fully discovered till it has brought about its 
own punishment. 

4? ring."] — Ver. 1. On the rings in use among the ancients, see the 
note to the First Book of the Amores, El. iv., 1. 26. See also the subject; 
of the seventh Elegy of the First Book of the Tristia. 

48 Carpathian old man.] — Ver. 10. For some account of Proteus, who 
is here referred to, see the First Book of the Fasti, 1. 363, and the Note. 

49 Be able to seal] — Ver. 15. From this, it appears to have been a 
signet ring. 

50 Touch the lips.]— Ver. 17. See the Tristia, Book v., El. iv. 1. 5, and 
the Note to the passage. 



E. XV.] OK, AMOTTKS. 329 

in her desk, 59 I would refuse to depart, sticking fast to your 
fingers with my contracted circle. 

To you, my life, I would never be a cause of disgrace, or 
a burden which your delicate fingers would refuse to carry. 
Wear me, when you are bathing your limbs in the tepid 
stream ; and put up with the inconvenience of the water 
getting beneath the stone. But, I doubt, that on seeing you 
naked, my passion would be aroused ; and that, a ring, I 
should enact the part of the lover. But why wish for impos- 
sibilities ? Go, my little gift ; let her understand that my con- 
stancy is proffered with you. 



ELEGY XVI. 

He enlarges on the beauties of his native place, where he is now stay- 
ing ; but, notwithstanding the delights of the country, he says that he 
cannot feel happy in the absence of his mistress, whom he invites to 
visit him. 

Sulmo, 60 the third part of the Pelignian land, 61 now receives 
me ; a little spot, but salubrious with its flowing streams. 
Though the Sun should cleave the earth with his approaching 
rays, and though the oppressive Constellation 62 of the Dog of 
Icarus should shine, the Pelignian fields are traversed by 
flowing streams, and the shooting grass is verdant on the 
soft ground. The earth is fertile in corn, and much more 
fruitful in the grape ; the thin soil 63 produces, too, the olive, 
that bears its berries. 64 The rivers also trickling amid the 
shooting blades, the grassy turfs cover the moistened ground. 

59 In her desk.] — Ver. 19. ' Loculi' used in the plural, as in the pre- 
sent instance, signified a receptacle with compartments, similar, perhaps, 
to our writing desks ; a small box, coffer, casket, or cabinet of wood or 
ivory, for keeping money or jewels. 

60 Sulmo.'] — Ver. 1. See the Note to the first line of the First Elegy of 
this Book. 

61 Pelignian land.] — Ver. 1. From Pliny the Elder, we learn that the 
Peligni were divided into three tribes, the Corfinienses, the Superequani, 

; -^and the Sulmonenses. 

62 Constellation.] — Ver. 4. He alludes to the heat attending the Dog 
star, see the Fasti, Book iv., 1. 939, and the Note to the passage. 

63 The thin soil.] — Ver. 8. ' Rarus ager ' means, a ' thin ' or ' loose ' 
soil, which was well suited for the cultivation of the grape. 

64 That bears its berries.] — Ver. 8. In Nisard's translation, the words 
! bacciferam Pallada,' which mean the olive, are rendered ' L'amande chere 
a Pallas,' ' the almond dear to Pallas.' 



330 THE AMOEES ; [b. II. 

But my flame is far away. In one word, I am mistaken ; 
she who excites my flame is far off ; my flame is here. I 
would not choose, could I be placed between Pollux and 
Castor, to be in a portion of the heavens without yourself. 
Let them lie with their anxious cares, and let them be pressed 
with the heavy weight of the earth, who have measured out the 
earth into lengthened tracks. 65 Or else they should have 
bid the fair to go as the companions of the youths, if the 
earth must be measured out into lengthened tracks. Then, 
had I, shivering, had to pace the stormy Alps, 66 the journey 
would have been pleasant, so that I had been with my love. 
With my love, I could venture to rush through the Libyan 
quicksands, and to spread my sails to be borne along by the 
fitful Southern gales. Then, I would not dread the mon- 
sters which bark beneath the thigh of the virgin Scylla ; nor 
winding Malea, thy bays ; nor where Charybdis, sated with 
ships swallowed up, disgorges them, and sucks up again the 
water which she has discharged. And if the sway of the 
winds prevails, and the waves bear away the Deities about to 
come to our aid ; do you throw your snow-white arms around 
my shoulders ; with active .body will I support the beauteous 
burden. The youth who visited Hero, had often swam across 
the waves ; then, too, would he have crossed them, but the 
way was dark. 

But without you, although the fields affording employment 
with their vines detain me ; although the meadows be over- 
flowed by the streams, and though the husbandman invite 
the obedient stream 67 into channels, and the cool air refresh 
the foliage of the trees, I should not seem to be among the 
healthy Pelignians ; I should not seem to be in the place of 
my birth — my paternal fields ; but in Scythia, and among 
the fierce Gilicians, 68 and the Britons painted green, 69 and 
the rocks which are red with the gore of Prometheus. 

65 Lengthened tracks, .] — Ver. 16. To the Delphin Editor this seems 
a silly expression. 

66 The stormy Alps. .] — Ver. 19. See the Metamorphoses, Book ii. 
1. 226, and the Note to the passage. 

67 The obedient stream.'] — Ver. 35. This was a method of irrigation 
in agriculture, much resorted to hy the ancients. 

68 Fierce Cilicians.'] — Ver. 39. The people of the interior of Cilicia, 
in Asia Minor, were of rude and savage manners ; while those on the coast 



E. XVI.] Oft, AMOUES. 331 

The elm loves the vine, 71 the vine forsakes not the elm : why 
am I so often torn away from my love ? But you used to swear, 
both by myself, and by your eyes, my stars, that you would 
ever be my companion. The winds and the waves carry away, 
whither they choose, the empty words of the fair, more worth- 
less than the falling leaves. Still, if there is any affectionate 
regard in you for me thus deserted : now commence to add 
deeds to your promises : and forthwith do you, as the nags 72 
whirl your little chaise 7J along, shake the reins over their 
manes at full speed. But you, rugged hills, subside, wherever 
she shall come ; and you paths in the winding vales, be smooth. 



ELEGY XVII. 

He says that he is the slave of Corinna, and complains of the tyranny 
which she exercises over him. 

If there shall be any one who thinks it inglorious to serve a 
damsel : in his opinion I shall be convicted of such baseness. 
Let me be disgraced ; if only she, who possesses Paphos, 

had been engaged in piracy, until it had been effectually suppressed by 
Pompey. 

69 Britons painted green.] — Ver. 39. The Britons may be called ' viri- 
des,' from their island being surrounded by the sea ; or, more probably, 
from the colour with which they were in the habit of staining their bodies. 
Caesar says, in the Fifth Book of the Gallic war, ' The Britons stain them- 
selves with woad, ' vitrum,' or ' glastum,' which produces a blue colour: 
and thus they become of a more dreadful appearance in battle.' The con- 
quest of Britain, by Caesar, is alluded to in the Fifteenth Book of the 
Metamorphoses, 1. 752. 

71 Loves the vine.] — Ver. 41. The custom of training vines by the 
side of the elm, has been alluded to in a previous Note. See also the 
Metamorphoses, Book xiv. 1. 663, and the Note to the passage. 

72 As the nags.] — Ver. 49. The ' manni' were used by the Romans 
for much the same purpose as our coach-horses : and were probably more 
noted for their fleetness than their strength; They were a small breed, 
originally imported from Gaul, and the possession of them was supposed to 
indicate the possession of considerable wealth. As the ' esseda ' was a small 
vehicle, and probably of light structure, we must not be surprised at 
Corinna being in the habit of driving for herself. The distance from 
Eome to Sulmo was about ninety miles ; and the journey, from his ex- 
pressions in the fifty-first and fifty-second lines, must have been over hill 
and dale. 

73 Your little chaise.] — Ver. 49. For an account of the ' essedum,' or 
4 esseda,' see the Pontic Epistles, Book ii. Ep. 10, 1. 34, and the Note to 
the passage. 



332 THE AMORES ; [b. II. 

and Cythera, beaten by the waves, torments me with less 
violence. And would that I had been the prize, too, of some 
indulgent mistress ; since I was destined to be the prize 
of some fair. Beauty begets pride ; through her charms Co- 
rinna is disdainful. Ah wretched me ! why is she so well 
known to herself ? Pride, forsooth, is caught from the re- 
flection of the mirror : and there she sees not herself, unless 
she is first adorned. 

If your beauty gives you a sway not too great over all things, 
face born to fascinate my eyes, still, you ought not, on that 
account, to despise me comparatively with yourself. That 
which is inferior must be united with what is great. The 
Nymph Calypso, seized with passion for a mortal, is believed 
to have detained the hero against his will. It is believed that 
the ocean-daughter of Nereus was united to the king of 
Phthia, 74 and that Egeria was to the just Numa : that Venus 
was to Vulcan : although, his anvil 75 left, he limped with a dis- 
torted foot. This same kind of verse is unequal ; but still 
the heroic is becomingly united 76 with the shorter measure. 

You, too, my life, receive me upon any terms. May it 
become you to impose conditions in the midst of your caresses. 
I will be no disgrace to you, nor one for you to rejoice at my 
removal. This affection will not be one to be disavowed by 
you. 77 May my cheerful lines be to you in place of great 
wealth : even many a fair wishes to gain fame through me. 
I know of one who publishes it that she is Corinna. 78 What 
would she not be ready to give to be so ? But neither do the 
cool Eurotas, and the poplar-bearing Pad us, far asunder, 
roll along the same banks; nor shall any one but yourself be 

74 King of Phthia. — Ver. 17.] He alludes to the marriage of Thetis, 
the sea Goddess, to Peleus, the king of Phthia, in Thessaly. 

75 His anvil.'] — Ver. 19. It is a somewhat curious fact, that the anvils 
of the ancients exactly resembled in form and every particular those used 
at the present day. 

76 Becomingly united.'] — Ver. 22. He says, that in the Elegiac measure 
the Pentameter, or line of five feet, is not unhappily matched with the 
Hexameter, or heroic line of six feet. 

77 Disavowed by you.] — Ver. 26. ' Vobis ' seems more agreable to 
the sense of the passage, than ' nobis.' ' to be denied by us ;' as, from 
the context, there was no fear of his declining her affection. 

7S That she is Corinna.]— Ver. 29. This clearly proves that Corinna 
was not a real name ; it probably was not given by the Poet to any one 
of his female acquaintances in particular. 



E. XVIII.] OE, AMOITES. 333 

celebrated in my poems. You, alone, shall afford subject- 
matter for my genius. 

ELEGY XVIII. 

He tells Macer that he ought to write on Love. 
While thou art tracing thy poem onwards 79 to the wrath of 
Achilles, and art giving their first arms to the heroes, after 
taking the oaths ; I, Macer, 80 am reposing in the shade of 
Venus, unused to toil ; and tender Love attacks me, when about 
to attempt a mighty subject. Many a time have I said to my 
mistress, "At length, away with you:" and forthwith she has 
seated herself in my lap. Many a time have I said, " I am 
ashamed of myself :" ivhen, with difiiculty, her tears repressed, 
she has said, " Ah wretched me ! Now you are ashamed to 
love." And then she has thrown her arms around my neck: 
and has given me a thousand kisses, which quite overpowered 
me. I am overcome: and my genius is called away from the 
arms it has assumed ; and I forthwith sing the exploits of 
my home, and my own warfare. 

Still did I wield the sceptre : and by my care my Tragedy 
grew apace ; 81 and for this pursuit I was well prepared. Love 
smiled both at my tragic pall, and my coloured buskins, and 

70 Thy poem onwards.] — Ver. 1. Macer translated the Iliad of Homer 
into Latin verse, and composed an additional poem, commencing at the 
beginning of the Trojan war, and coming down to the wrath of Achilles, 
with which Homer begins. 

80 7, Macer.] — Ver. 3. ^milius Macer is often mentioned by Ovid in 
his works. In the Tristia, Book iv. Ep. 10, 1. 44, he says, ' Macer, when 
stricken in years, many a time repeated to me his poem on birds, and each 
serpent that is deadly, each herb that is curative.' The Tenth Epistle of 
the Second Book of Pontic Epistles is also addressed to him, in which 
Ovid alludes to his work on the Trojan war, and the time w r hen they 
visited Asia Minor and Sicily together. He speaks of him in the Sixteenth 
Epistle of the Fourth Book, as being then dead. Macer was a native of 
Verona, and was the intimate friend of Virgil, Ovid, and Tibullus. Some 
suppose that the poet who wrote on natural history, was not the same 
with him who wrote on the Trojan war ; and, indeed, it does not seem 
likely, that he who was an old man in the youth of Ovid, should be the 
same person to whom he writes from Pontus, when about fifty-six years 
of age. The bard of Ilium died in Asia. 

81 Tragedy grew apace.] — Ver. 13. He alludes to his tragedy of Medea, 
which no longer exists. Quintilian thus speaks of it ; • The Medea of 
Ovid seems to me to prove how much he was capable of, if he had only 
preferred to curb his genius, rather than indulge it.' 



334 THE AMOHES ; [b. II. 

the sceptre wielded so well by a private hand. From this 
pursuit, too, did the influence of my cruel mistress draw me 
away, and Love triumphed over the Poet with his buskins. 
As I am allowed to do, either I teach the art of tender love, 
(alas ! by my own precepts am I myself tormented :) or I 
write what was delivered to Ulysses in the words of Pene- 
lope, or thy tears, deserted Phyllis. What, too, Paris and 
Macareus, and the ungrateful Jason, and the parent of Hip- 
polytus, and Hippoly tus himself read : and what the wretched 
Dido says, brandishing the drawn sword, and what the Lesbian 
mistress of the iEolian lyre. 

How swiftly did my friend, Sabinus, return 82 from all quar- 
ters of the world, and bring back letters 83 from different spots ! 
The fair Penelope recognized the seal of Ulysses : the step- 
mother read what was written by her own Hippolytus. Then 
did the dutiful iEneas write an answer to the afflicted Elissa ; 
and Phyllis, if she only survives, has something to read. The 
sad letter came to Hypsipyle from Jason : the Lesbian damsel, 
beloved by Apollo, may give the lyre that she has vowed to 
Phoebus. 84 Nor, Macer, so far as it is safe for a poet who 
sings of wars, is beauteous Love unsung of by thee, in the 
midst of warfare. Both Paris is there, and the adultress, 
the far-famed cause of guilt : and Laodamia, who attends her 
husband in death. If well I know thee ; thou singest not of 
wars with greater pleasure than these ; and from thy own 
camp thou comest back to mine. 

82 Sabinus return.'] — Ver. 27. He represents his friend, Sabinus, here 
in the character of a ' tabellarius,' or ' letter carrier/ going with extreme 
speed (celer) to the various parts of the earth, and bringing back the 
answers of Ulysses to Penelope, Hippolytus to Phsedra, iEneas to Dido, 
Demophoon to Phyllis, Jason to Hypsipyle, and Phaon to Sappho. All 
these works of Sabinus have perisbed, except the Epistle of Ulysses to 
Penelope, and Demophoon to Phyllis. His Epistle from Paris to (Enone, 
is not here mentioned. See the Pontic Epistles, Book iv. Ep. xvi. 1. 13, 
and the Note to the passage. 

83 Bring back letters."] — Ver. 28. As the ancients had no establish- 
ment corresponding to our posts, they employed special messengers called 
' tabellarii,' for the conveyance of their letters. 

8i Vowed to Phoebus.] — Ver. 34. Sappho says in her Epistle, that if 
Phaon should refuse to return, she will dedicate her lyre to Phoebus, and 
throw herself from the Leucadian rock. This, he tells her, she may now 
do, as by his answer Phaon declines to return. 



E. XIX.] OE, AMOTTES. 335 

ELEGY XIX. 

He tells a husband who does not care for his wife to watch her a little 
more carefully. 

If, fool, thou dost not need the fair to be well watched ; still 
have her watched for my sake : that I may be pleased with 
her the more. What one may have is worthless ; what one 
may not have, gives the more edge to the desires. If a man 
falls in love with that which another permits him to love, he is 
a man without feeling. Let us that love, both hope and 
fear in equal degree ; and let an occasional repulse make room 
for our desires. 

Why should I think of Fortune, should she never care to 
deceive me ? I value nothing that does not sometimes cause 
me pain. The clever Corinna saw this failing in me ; and 
she cunningly found out the means by which I might be 
enthralled. Oh, how many a time, feigning a pain in her head 85 
that was quite well, has she ordered me, as I lingered with 
tardy foot, to take my departure ! Oh, how many a time 
has she feigned a fault, and guilty herself, has made there to 
be an appearance of innocence, just as she pleased ! When 
thus she had tormented me and had rekindled the lan- 
guid flame, again was she kind and obliging to my wishes. 
What caresses, what delightful words did she have ready for 
me ! What kisses, ye great Gods, and how many, used she 
to give me ! 

You, too, who have so lately ravished my eyes, often stand 
in dread of treachery, often, when entreated, refuse ; and let 
me, lying prostrate on the threshold before your door-posts, 
endure the prolonged cold throughout the frosty night. Thus 
is my love made lasting, and it grows up in lengthened experi- 
ence ; this is for my advantage, this forms food for my affec- 
tion. A surfeit of love, 83 and facilities too great, become a cause 
of weariness to me, just as sweet food cloys the appetite. 
If the brazen tower had never enclosed Danae, 87 Danae had 
never been made a mother by Jove. While Juno is watching 

8r> Pain in her head.'] — Ver. 11. She pretended a head-ache, when 
nothing was the matter with her ; in order that too much familiarity, in 
the end, might not breed contempt. 

8(5 A surfeit of love.] — Ver. 25. ' Pinguis amor' seems here to mean a 
1 satisfied ' or a ' pampered passion ;' one that meets with no repulse. 

87 Enclosed Danae.] — Ver. 27. See the Metamorphoses, Book iv., 1. 608. 



336 THE AMOEES; [b. II. 

Io with her curving horns, she becomes still more pleasing 
to Jove than she has been before. 

Whoever desires what he may have, and what is easily ob- 
tained, let him pluck leaves from the trees, and take water 
from the ample stream. If any damsel wishes long to hold 
her sway, let her play with her lover. Alas ! that I, myself, 
am tormented through my own advice. Let constant indul- 
gence be the lot of whom it may, it does injury to me : that 
which pursues, from it I fly ; that which flies, I ever pursue. 
But do thou, too sure of the beauteous fair, begin now at 
nightfall to close thy house. Begin to enquire who it is that 
so often stealthily paces thy threshold ? Why, too, the dogs 
bark 88 in the silent night. Whither the careful handmaid is 
carrying, or whence bringing back, the tablets ? Why so oft she 
lies in her couch apart ? Let this anxiety sometimes gnaw 
into thy very marrow ; and give some scope and some oppor- 
tunity for my stratagems. 

If one could fall in love with the wife of a fool, that man 
could rob the barren sea-shore of its sand. And now I give thee 
notice ; unless thou begin to watch this fair, she shall begin 
to cease to be aflame of mine. I have put up with much, 
and that for a long time ; I have often hoped that it would 
come to pass, that I should adroitly deceive thee, when thou 
hadst watched her well. Thou art careless, and dost endure 
what should be endured by no husband ; but an end there 
shall be of an amour that is allowed to me. And shall I then, 
to my sorrow, forsooth, never be forbidden admission ? Will 
it ever be night for me, with no one for an avenger 1 Am I to 
dread nothing ? Shall I heave no sighs in my sleep ? What 
have I to do with one so easy, what with such a pander of 
a husband? By thy own faultiness thou dost mar my joys. 
Why, then, dost thou not choose some one else, for so great 
long-suffering to please ? If it pleases thee for me to be thy 
rival, forbid me to be so. 

88 The dogs barle.'j—Ver. 40. The women of loose character, among the 
Romans, were much in the habit of keeping dogs, for the protection of 
their houses. 



BOOK THE THIRD, 



ELEGY I. 

The Poet deliberates whether he shall continue to write Elegies, of 
whether he shall turn to Tragedy, 

These stands an ancient grove, and one uncut for many a 
year ; 'tis worthy of belief that a Deity inhabits that spot. 
In the midst there is a holy spring, and a grotto arched with 
pumice ; and on every side the birds pour forth their sweet 
complaints. Here, as I was walking, protected by the shade 
of the trees, I was considering upon what work my Muse 
should commence. Elegy came up, having her perfumed 
hair wreathed ; and, if I mistake not, one of her feet was 
longer than the other} Her figure was beauteous ; her robe 
of the humblest texture, her garb that of one in love ; the 
fault of her foot was one cause of her gracefulness. 

Ruthless Tragedy, too, came with her mighty stride ; on 
her scowling brow were her locks ; her pall swept the ground. 
Her left hand held aloft the royal sceptre ; the Lydian bus- 
kin- was the high sandal for her feet. And first she spoke ; 
" And when will there be an end of thy loving ? Poet, so 
slow at thy subject matter ! Drunken revels 3 tell of thy 
wanton course of life ; the cross roads, as they divide in their 
many ways, tell of it. Many a time does a person point with 
his finger at the Poet as he goes along, and say, 'That, 
that is the man whom cruel Love torments.' Thou art talked 

1 Than the other.'] — Ver. 8. He alludes to the unequal lines of the 
Elegiac measure, which consists of Hexameters and Pentameters. In per- 
sonifying Elegy, he might have omitted this remark, as it does not add to 
the attractions of a lady, to have one foot longer than the other ; he says, 
however, that it added to her gracefulness. 

2 The Lydian buskin.'] — Ver. 14. As Lydia was said to have sent co- 
lonists to Etruria, some Commentators think that the word ' Lydius' here 
means ' Etrurian ;' and that the first actors at Rome were Etrurians. But, 
as the Romans derived their notions of tragedy from the Greeks, we may 
conclude that Lydia in Asia Minor is here referred to ; for we learn from 
Herodotus and other historians, that the Greeks borrowed largely from 
the Lydians. 

3 Drunken revels.] — Ver. 17. He probably alludes to the Fourth Elegy 
of the First, and the Fifth Elegy of the Second Book of the ' Amores.' 

z 



338 THE AMOEES ; [b. III. 

of as the story of the whole City, and yet thou dost not per- 
ceive it ; while, all shame laid aside, thou art boasting of thy 
feats. 'Twere time to be influenced, touched by a more 
mighty inspiration ; 5 long enough hast thou delayed ; com- 
mence a greater task. By thy subject thou dost cramp thy 
genius ; sing of the exploits of heroes ; then thou wilt say, 
■ This is the field that is worthy of my genius. ' Thy Muse has 
sportively indited what the charming fair may sing ; and thy 
early youth has been passed amidst its own numbers. Now 
may I, Roman Tragedy, gain a celebrity by thy means ; thy 
conceptions will satisfy my requirements." 

Thus far did she speak ; and, supported on her tinted bus- 
kins, three or four times she shook her head with its flowing 
locks. The other one, if rightly I remember, smiled with 
eyes askance. Am I mistaken, or was there a branch of 
myrtle in her right hand 1 " Why, haughty Tragedy," said she, 
" dost thou attack me with high-sounding words 1 And canst 
thou never be other than severe ? Still, thou thyself hast 
deigned to be excited in unequal numbers ! G Against me hast 
thou' strived, making use of my own verse. I should not 
compare heroic measures with my own ; thy palaces quite 
overwhelm my humble abodes. I am a trifler ; and with my- 
self, Cupid, my care, is a trifler too ; I am no more substan- 
tial myself than is my subject-matter. Without myself, the 
mother of wanton Love were coy ; of that Goddess do I show 
myself the patroness 7 and the confidant. The door which 
thou with thy rigid buskin canst not unlock, the same is 
open to my caressing words. And yet I have deserved more 

5 Mighty inspiration.'] — Ver. 23. The 'thyrsus' was said to have been 
first used by the troops of Bacchus, in his Indian expedition, when, to 
deceive the Indians, they concealed the points of their spears amid leaves 
of the vine and ivy. Similar weapons were used by his devotees when 
worshipping him, which they brandished to and fro. To be touched 
with the thyrsus of Bacchus, meant ' to be inspired with poetic frenzy.' 
See the Notes to the Metamorphoses, Book hi. 1. 542. 

6 In unequal numbers.'] — Ver. 37. Some have supposed, that allusion 
is made to the Tragedy of Medea, which Ovid had composed, and that it 
had been written in Elegiac measure. This, however, does not seem to 
be the meaning of the passage. Elegy justly asks Tragedy, why, if she 
has such a dislike to Elegiac verses, she has been talking in them ? 
which she has done, from the 15th line to the 30th. 

7 Myself the patroness.] — Ver. 44 She certainly does not give herself 
a very high character in giving herself the title of ' lena.' 



& I.] OR, AMOT7BS. 339 

power than thou, by patting up with many a thing that would 
not have been endured by thy haughtiness. 

" Through me Corinna learned how, deceiving her keeper, to 
shake the constancy of the fastened door, 8 and to slip away 
from her couch, clad in a loose tunic, 9 and in the night to move 
her feet without a stumble. Or how often, cut in the ivood, 1 " 
have I been hanging up at her obdurate doors, not fearing to be 
read by the people as they passed ! I remember besides, how, 
when sent, I have been concealed in the bosom of the hand- 
maid, until the strict keeper had taken his departure. Still 
further — when thou didst send me as a present on her birth- 
day 11 — but she tore me to pieces, and barbarously threw me 
in the water close by. I was the first to cause the prospering 
germs of thy genius to shoot ; it has, as my gift, that for 
which she is now asking thee." 

They had now ceased ; on which I began : " By your own 
selves, I conjure you both ; let my words, as I tremble, be re- 
ceived by unprejudiced ears. Thou, the one, dost grace rne 
with the sceptre and the lofty buskin ; already, even by thy 
contact with my lips, have I spoken in mighty accents. 
Thou, the other, dost offer a lasting fame to my loves • be 
propitious, then, and with the long lines unite the short. 

8 The fastened door, ,] — Ver. 50. He alludes, probably, to one of the 
Elegies which he rejected, when he cut down the five books to three. 

9 In a loose tunic] — Ver. 51. He may possibly allude to the Fifth Elegy 
of the First Book, as the words ' tunica velata recincta,' as applied to Co^- 
rinna, are there found. But there he mentions midday as the time when 
Corinna came to him, whereas he seems here to allude to the middle of 
the night. 

10 Cut in the wood.'] — Ver. 53. He alludes to the custom of lovers 
carving inscriptions on the doors of their obdurate mistresses : this we 
learn from Plautus to have been done in Elegiac strains, and sometimes 
with charcoal. ' Implentur mese fores elegiamm carbonibus.' ' My doors 
are filled with the coal-black marks of elegies.' 

11 On her birthday.] — Ver. 57. She is telling Ovid what she has put up 
with for his sake ; and she reminds him how, when he sent to his mistress 
some complimentary lines on her birthday, she tore them up and threw 
them in the water. Horace mentions ' the flames, or the Adriatic sea/ 
as the end of verses that displeased. Athenseus, Book xiii. c. 5, relates a 
somewhat similar story. Diphilus the poet was in the habit of sending 
his verses to his mistress Gnathasna. One day she was mixing him a cup 
of wine and snow-water, on which he observed, how cold her well must 
be ; to which she answered, yes, for it was there that she used to throw 
his compositions. 

Z2 



340 THE AMOEE3 ; [b. Ut. 

Do, Tragedy, grant a little respite to the Poet. Thou art an 
everlasting task ; the time which she demands is but short." 
Moved by my entreaties, she gave me leave ; let tender 
Love be sketched with hurried hand, while still there is time ; 
from behind 14 a more weighty undertaking presses on. 



ELEGY II. 

To his mistress, in whose company he is present at the chariot races in 
the Circus Maximus. He describes the race. 

I am not sitting here 15 an admirer of the spirited steeds ; 18 still 
I pray that he who is your favourite may win. I have come 
here to chat with you, and to be seated by you, 17 that the 

14 From behind.'] — Ver. 70. It is not known, for certain, to what he 
refers in this line. Some think that he refers to the succeeding Elegies 
in this Book, which are, in general, longer than the former ones, while 
others suppose that he refers to his Metamorphoses, which he then con,, 
templated writing. Burmann, however, is not satisfied with this expla- 
nation, and thinks that, in his more mature years, he contemplated the 
composition of Tragedy, after having devoted his youth to lighter subjects; 
and that he did not compose, or even contemplate the composition of his 
Metamorphoses, until many years afterwards. 

15 I am not sitting here.'] — Ver. 1. He is here alluding to the Circen- 
sian games, which were celebrating in the Circus Maximus, or greatest 
Circus, at Rome, at different times in the year. Some account is given of 
the Circus Maximus in the Note to 1. 392 of the Second Book of the 
Fasti. The ' Magni,' or Great Circensian games, took place on the Fourth 
of the Ides of April. The buildings of the Circus were burnt in the con- 
flagration of Rome, in Nero's reign ; and it was not restored till the days 
of Trajan, who rebuilt it with more than its former magnificence, and made 
it capable, according to some authors, of accommodating 385,000 persons. 
The Poet says, that he takes no particular interest himself in the race, but 
hopes that the horse may win which is her favourite. 

16 The spirited steeds.] — Ver. 2. The usual number of chariots in each 
race was four. The charioteers were divided into four companies, or ' fac- 
tiones,' each distinguished by a colour, representing the season of the year. 
These colours were green for the spring, red for the summer, azure for the 
autumn, and white for the winter. Originally, but two chariots started in 
each race ; but Domitian increased the number to six, appointing two new 
companies of charioteers, the golden and the purple ; however the number 
was still, more usually, restricted to four. The greatest interest was shewn 
by all classes, and by both sexes, in the race. Lists of the horses were 
circulated, with their names and colours ; the names also ofHhe charioteers 
were given, and bets were extensively made, (see the Art of Love, Book i. 
1. 167, 168,) and sometimes disputes and violent contests arose. 

17 To be seated by you.] — Ver. 3. The men and women sat together 



K. II.] OE, AMOTJItS. 341 

passion which you cause may not be unknown to you. You 
are looking at the race, I am looking at you ; let us each look 
at what pleases us, and so let us each feast our eyes. 0, happy 
the driver 18 of the steeds, whoever he is, that is your favourite ; 
it is then his lot to be the object of your care ; might such be 
my lot ; with ardent zeal to be borne along would I press over 
the steeds as they start from the sacred barrier. 19 And now I 
would give rein ; 20 now with my whip would I lash their backs ; 
now with my inside wheel would I graze the turning-place. 21 
If you should be seen by me in my course, then 1 should stop ; 
and the reins, let go, would fall from my hands. 

Ah ! how nearly was Pelops 22 falling by the lance of him of 
Pisa, while, Hippodamia, he was gazing on thy face ! Still did 
he prove the conqueror through the favour of his mistress ; 23 let 
us each prove victor through the favour of his charmer. Why 
do you shrink away in vain ? 24 The partition forces us to sit 

when viewing the contests of the Circus, and not in separate parts of the 
building, as at the theatres. 

13 Happy the driver.] — Ver. 7. He addresses the charioteer. 

19 The sacred barrier."]— Ver. 9. For an account of the 'career/ or 
'starting-place,' see the Notes to the Tristia, Book v. El. ix. 1. 29. It is 
called ' sacer/ because the whole of the Circus Maximus was sacred to 
Consus, who is supposed by some to have been the same Deity as Neptune. 
The games commenced with sacrifices to the Deities. 

20 I would give rein.] — Ver. 11. The charioteer was wont to stand 
within the reins, having them thrown round his back. Leaning back- 
wards, he thereby threw his full weight against the horses, when he wished 
to check them at full speed. This practice, however, was dangerous, an 1 
by it the death of Hippolytus was caused. In the Fifteenth Book of the 
Metamorphoses,!. 524, he says, 'I struggled, with unavailing hand, to guide 
the bridle covered with white foam, and throwing myself backwards, I 
pulled back the loosened reins/ To avoid the danger of this practice, the 
charioteer carried a hooked knife at his waist, for the purpose of cutting 
the reins on an emergency. 

21 The turning-place.] — Ver. 12. For an account of the 'meta/see 
the Tristia, Book iv. El. viii. 1. 35. Of course, those who kept as close to 
the ' meta' as possible, would lose the least distance in turning round it. 

23 How nearly was Pelops.] — Ver. 15. In his race with CEnomaiis, 
king of Pisa, in Arcadia, for the hand of his daughter, Hippodamia, when 
Pelops conquered his adversary by bribing his charioteer, Myrtilus. 

23 Of his mistress.] — Ver. 17. He here seems to imply that it was 
Hippodamia who bribed Myrtilus. 

24 Shrink away in vain.] — Ver. 19. She shrinks from him, and seems 
to think that he is sitting too close, but he tells her that the ' linea ' 
forces them to squeeze. This * linea' is supposed to have been either a 



342 THE AMOEES; [b. III. 

close ; tlie Circus has this advantage 25 in the arrangement of 
its space. But do you 26 on the right hand, whoever you are, be 
accommodating to the fair ; she is being hurt by the pressure 
of your side. And you as well, 27 who are looking on behind us ; 
draw in your legs, if you have any decency, and don't press 
her back with your hard knees. But your mantle, hanging 
too low, is dragging on the ground ; gather it up ; or see, I 
am taking it up 2 * in my hands. A disobliging garment you are, 
who are thus concealing ancles so pretty ; and the more you 
gaze upon them, the more disobliging garment you are. Such 
were the ancles of the fleet Atalanta, 29 which Milanion longed 
to touch with his hands. Such are painted the ancles of the 
swift Diana, when, herself still bolder, she pursues the bold 
beasts of prey. On not seeing them, I am on fire ; what would 
be the consequence if they were seen ? You are heaping flames 
upon flames, water upon the sea. From them I suspect that 

cord, or a groove, drawn across the seats at regular intervals, so as to mark 
out room for a certain number of spectators between each two ' lineae.' 

25 Has this advantage.] — Ver. 20. He congratulates himself on the 
construction of the place, so aptly giving him an excuse for sitting close 
to his mistress. 

2(3 But do you.] — Ver. 21. He is pretending to be very anxious for 
her comfort, and is begging the person on the other side not to squeeze 
so close against his mistress. 

27 And you as ivell] — Ver. 23. As in the theatres, the seats, which 
were called ' gradus,' ' sedilia,'' or ' subsellia,' were arranged round the 
course of the Circus, in ascending tiers ; the lowest being, very probably, 
almost flush with the ground. There were, perhaps, no backs to the 
seats, or, at the best, only a slight railing of wood. The knees conse- 
quently of those in the back row would be level, and in juxta-position with 
the backs of those in front. He is here telling the person who is sitting 
behind, to be good enough to keep his knees to himself, and not to hurt 
the lady's back by pressing against her. 

23 / am taking it upJ\ — Ver. 26. He is here showing off his polite- 
ness, and will not give her the trouble of gathering up her dress. Even 
in those days, the ladies seem to have had no objection to their dresses 
doing the work of the scavenger's broom. 

29 The fleet Ataianta.] — Ver. 29. Some suppose that the Arcadian 
Atalanta, the daughter of Iasius, was beloved by a youth of the name of 
Milanion. According to Apollodorus, who evidently confounds the Ar- 
cadian with the Boeotian Atalanta, Milanion was another name of Hippo- 
menes, who conquered the latter in the foot race, as mentioned in the 
Tenth Book of the Metamorphoses. See the Translation of the Meta- 
morphoses, p. 375. From this and another passage of Ovid, we have 
reason to suppose that Atalanta was, by tradition, famous for the beauty 
of her ancles. 



E. II.] OR, AMOURS. 343 

the rest may prove charming, which is so well hidden, con- 
cealed beneath the thin dress. 

But, meanwhile, should you like to receive the gentle breeze 
which the fan may cause, 50 when waved by my hand 1 Or is 
the heat I feel, rather that of my own passion, and not of the 
weather, and is the love of the fair burning my inflamed 
breast ? "While I am talking, your white clothes are sprinkled 
with the black dust ; nasty dust, away from a body like the 
snow. 

But now the procession 31 is approaching ; give good omens 
both in words and feelings. The time is come to applaud ; the 
procession approaches, glistening with gold. First in place is 
Victory borne 3 ' with expanded wings ; 33 come hither, Goddess, 
and grant that this passion of mine may prove victorious. 

30 The fan may cause.] — Ver. 38. Instead of the word ' tabella/ 
' flabella' has been suggested here ; but as the first syllable is long, such 
a reading would occasion a violation of the laws of metre, and ' tabehV is 
probably correct. It has, however, the same meaning here as ' flabella •; 
it signifying what we should call ' a fan '; in fact, the ( flabellum' was a 
s tabella/ or thin board, edged with peacocks' feathers, or those of other 
birds, and sometimes with variegated pieces of cloth. These were gene- 
rally waved by female slaves, who were called ' flabellifene' ; or else 
by eunuchs or young boys. They were used to cool the atmosphere, to 
drive away gnats and flies, and to promote sleep. We here see a gentle- 
man offering to fan a lady, as a compliment ; and it must have been espe- 
cially grateful amid the dust and heat of the Roman Circus. That .which 
was especially intended for the purpose of driving away flies, was called 
' muscarium.' The use of fans was not confined to females ; as we learn from 
Suetonius, that the Emperor Augustus had a slave to fan him during his 
sleep. The fan was also sometimes made of linen, extended upon a light 
frame, and sometimes of the two wings of a bird, joined back to back, 
and attached to a handle. 

31 Noiv the procession.] — Ver. 34 All this time they have been waiting 
for the ceremony to commence. The ' Pompa,' or procession, now opens 
the performance. In this all those who were about to exhibit in the race 
took a part. The statues of the Gods were borne on wooden platforms 
on the shoulders of men, or on wheels, according as they were light or 
heavy. The procession moved from the Capitol, through the Forum, to the 
Circus Maximus, and was also attended by the officers of state. Musicians 
and dancers preceded the statues of the Gods. See the Fasti, Book iv. 
1. 391, and the Note to the passage. 

32 Victory borne.] — Ver. 45. On the wooden platform, which was 
called ' ferculuin,' or ' thensa,' according as it was small or large. 

33 With expanded wings."] — Ver. 45. Victory was always represented 
with expanded wings, on account of her inconstancy and volatility. 

I 



344 THE AMOBES ; [B. III. 

Salute Neptune, 34 you who put too much confidence in the 
waves ; I have nought to do with the sea ; my own dry land 
engages me. Soldier, salute thy own Mars ; arms I detest j 35 
Peace delights me, and Love found in the midst of Peace. Let 
Phoebus be propitious to the augurs, Phoebe to the huntsmen ; 
turn, Minerva, towards thyself the hands of the artisan. 30 Ye 
husbandmen, arise in honour of Ceres and the youthful Bac- 
chus ; let the boxers 37 render Pollux, the horseman Castor pro- 
pitious. Thee, genial Venus, and the Loves, the boys so potent 
with the bow, do I salute ; be propitious, Goddess, to my as- 
pirations. Inspire, too, kindly feelings in my new mistress; let 
her permit herself to be loved." She has assented ; and with 
her nod she has given a favourable sign. What the Goddess 
has promised, I entreat yourself to promise. With the leave 
of Venus I will say it, you shall be the greater Goddess. By 
these many witnesses do I swear to you, and by this array of 
the Gods, that for all time you have been sighed for by me. 
But your legs have no support ; you can, if perchance you 
like, rest the extremities of your feet in the lattice work. 38 

34 Salute Neptune.'] — Ver. 47. • Plaudite Neptuno ' is equivalent, in our 
common parlance, to ' Give a cheer for Neptune.' He is addressing the 
sailors who may be present : but he declines to have anything to do with 
the sea himself. 

35 Arms I detest.] — Ver. 49. lake his contemporary, Horace, Ovid 
was no lover of war. 

:i6 Of the artisan.] — Ver. 52. We learn from the Fasti, Book hi. 1. 815, 
that Minerva was especially venerated as the patroness of handicrafts. 

37 Let the boxers.] — Ver. 54. Boxing was one of the earliest athletic 
games practised by the Greeks. Apollo and Hercules, as well as Pollux, 
are celebrated by the poets for excelling in this exercise. It formed a 
portion of the Olympic contests ; while boys fought in the Nemean and 
Isthmian games. Concerning the ' csestus ' used by pugilists, see the Fasti, 
Book ii. 1. 367, and the Note to the passage. The method in fighting 
most practised was to remain on the defensive, and thus to wear out the 
opponent by continual efforts. To inflict blows, without receiving any in 
return on the body, was the great point of merit. The right arm was 
chiefly used for attack, while the office of the left was to protect the body. 
Teeth were often knocked out, and the ears were much disfigured. The 
boxers, by the rules of the game, were not allowed to take hold of each 
other, nor to trip up their antagonist. In Italy boxing seems to have 
been practised from early times by the people of Etruria. It continued 
to be one of the popular games during the period of the Republic as well 
as of the Empire. 

38 In the lattice work.] — Ver. 64. The ' cancelli ' were lattice work, 
which probably skirted the outer edge of each wide ' praecinctio/ or pas- 



E. II.] OX, AMOURS. 345 

Now the Prsetorj 39 the Circus emptied, has sent from the even 
barriers 40 the chariots with their four steeds, the greatest sight 
of all. I see who is your favourite ; whoever you wish well 
to, he will prove the conqueror. The very horses appear to 
understand what it is you wish for. Oh shocking ! around 
the turning-place he goes with a circuit far too wide. ^ What 
art thou about 1 The next is overtaking thee with his wheel 
in contact. What, wretched man, art thou about ? Thou art 
wasting the good wishes of the fair ; pull in the reins, I en- 
treat, to the left, 42 with a strong hand. We have been inte- 

sage. that ran along in front of the seats, at certain intervals. As the knees 
would not there be so cramped, these seats would be considered the most 
desirable. It is clear that Ovid and the lady have had the good fortune 
to secure front seats, with the feet resting either on the lowest « praecinctio/ 
or the ' praecinctio ' of a set of seats higher up. Stools, of course, could 
not be used, as they would be in the way of passers-by. He perceives, as 
the seat is high, that she has some difficulty in touching the ground with 
her feet, and naturally concludes that her legs must ache ; on which he 
tells her, if it will give her ease, to rest the tips of her feet on the lattice 
work railing which was opposite, and which, if they were on an upper 
* praecinctio,' ran along the edge of it : or if they were on the very lowest 
tier, skirted the edge of the ' podium - which formed the basis of that 
tier. This she might do, if the ' praecinctio ' was not more than a yard 
wide, and if the ' cancelli ' were as much as a foot in height. 

30 Now the Praetor.] — Ver. 65. The course is now clear of the pro- 
cession, and the Praetor gives the signal for the start, the 'carceres' being 
first opened. This was sometimes given by sound of trumpet, or more 
frequently by letting fall a napkin ; at least, after the time of Nero, who 
is said, on one occasion, while taking a meal, to have heard the shouts of 
the people who were impatient for the race to begin, on which he threw 
down his napkin as the signal. 

40 The even barriers.] — Ver. 66. From this description we should be 
apt to think that the start was effected at the instant when the ' carceres ' 
were opened. This was not the case : for after coming out of the ' car- 
ceres,' the chariots were ranged abreast before a white line, which was held 
by men whose office it was to do, and who were called 'moratores.' When 
all were ready, and the signal had been given, the white line was thrown 
down, and the race commenced, which was seven times round the course. 
The ' career ' is called ' aequum,' because they were in a straight line, 
and each chariot was ranged in front of the door of its ' career.' 

41 Circuit far too wide.] — Ver. 69. The charioteer, whom the lady 
favours, is going too wide of the ' meta,' or turning-place, and so loses 
ground, while the next overtakes him. 

42 To the left.'] — Ver. 72. He tells him to guide the horses to the left, 
so as to keep closer to the ' meta,' and not to lose so much ground by 
going wide of it. 



346 THE AMOE.ES ; [b. III. 

resting ourselves in a blockhead ; but still, Romans, call him 
back again, 43 and by waving the garments, 44 give the signal on 
every side. See ! they are calling him back ; but that the 
waving of the garments may not disarrange your hair, 45 you 
may hide yourself quite down in my bosom. 

And now, the barrier 46 unbarred once more, the side posts 
are open wide ; with the horses at full speed the variegated 
throng 47 bursts forth. This time, at all events, 48 do prove vic- 
torious, and bound over the wide expanse ; let my wishes, let 
those of my mistress, meet with success. The wishes of my 
mistress are fulfilled ; my wishes still exist. He bears away 
the palm ; 49 the palm is yet to be sought by me. She smiles, 
and she gives me a promise of something with her expressive 
eye. That is enough for this spot ; grant the rest in another 
place. 

43 Call him back again.'] — Ver. 73. He, by accident, lets drop the ob- 
servation, that they have been interesting themselves for a blockhead. 
But he immediately checks himself, and, anxious that the favourite may 
yet distinguish himself, trusts that the spectators will call him back. 
Crispinus, the Delphin Editor, thinks, that by the calling back, it is meant 
that it was a false start, and that the race was to be run over again. Bur- 
mann, however, is not of that opinion ; but supposes, that if any chariot 
did not go well, or the horses seemed jaded, it was the custom to call the 
driver back from the present race, that with new horses he might join in 
the next race. This, from the sequel, seems the most rational mode of 
explanation here. 

44 Waving the garments."] — Ver. 74. The signal for stopping was 
given by the men rising and shaking and waving their outer garments, or 
' togae,' and probably calling the charioteer by name. 

45 Disarrange your hair.] — Ver. 75. He is afraid lest her neighbours, 
in their vehemence should discommode her hair, and tells her, in joke, 
that she may creep into the bosom of his own ' toga.' 

48 And now the barrier.] — Ver. 77. The first race we are to suppose 
finished, and the second begins similarly to the first. There were gene- 
rally twenty-five of these ' missus,' or races in a day. 

4 7 The variegated throng.] — Ver. 78. See the Note to the second line. 

48 At all events.] — Ver. 79. He addresses the favourite, who has 
again started in this race. 

49 Bears away the palm.] — Ver. 82. The favourite charioteer is now 
victorious, and the Poet hopes that he himself may gain the palm in like 
manner. The victor descended from his car at the end of the race, and 
ascended the ' spina,' where he received his reward, which was generally a 
considerable sum of money. For an account of the ' spina,' see the 
Metamorphoses, Book x. 1. 106, and the Note to the passage. 



E. III.] OE, AHOUES. 347 

ELEGY III. 

He complains of his mistress, whom he has found to be forsworn. 

Go to, believe that the Gods exist ; she who had sworn 
has broken her faith, and still her beauty remains 50 just as it 
was before. Not yet forsworn, flowing locks had she ; after 
she has deceived the Gods, she has them just as long. Be- 
fore, she was pale, having her fair complexion suffused with 
the blush of the rose ; the blush is still beauteous on her 
complexion of snow. Her foot was small ; still most dimi- 
nutive is the size of that foot. Tall was she, and graceful ; 
tall and graceful does she still remain. Expressive eyes had 
she, which shone like stars ; many a time through them has the 
treacherous fair proved false to me. 51 

Even the Gods, forsooth, for ever permit the fair to be 
forsworn, and beauty has its divine sway. 52 I remember that 
of late she swore both by her own eyes and by mine, and mine 
felt pain. 53 Tell me, ye Gods, if with impunity she has proved 
false to you, why have I suffered punishment for the de- 
serts of another ? But the virgin daughter of Cepheus is no 
reproach, forsooth, to you, 54 who was commanded to die for 
her mother, so inopportunely beauteous. ,r Tis not enough 
that I had you for witnesses to no purpose ; unpunished, she 
laughs at even the Gods together with myself ; that by my. 
punishment she may atone for her perjuries, am I, the de- 
ceived, to be the victim of the deceiver ? Either a Divinity 

50 Her beauty remains."] — Yer. 2. She has not been punished with 
ugliness, as a judgment for her treachery. 

61 Proved false to me.] — Ver. 10. Tibullus has a similar passage, 4 Et 
si perque suos fallax juravit ocellos :' ' and if with her eyes the deceitful 
damsel is forsworn.' 

52 Its divine stvay.] — Ver. 12. ' Numen' here means a power equal 
to that of the Divinities, and which puts it on a level with them. 

53 Mine felt pain.'] — Ver. 14. When the damsel swore by them, his 
eyes smarted, as though conscious of her perjury. 

54 Forsooth to you.] — Ver. 17. He says that surely it was enough for 
the Gods to punish Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus, for the sins of 
her mother, without making him to suffer misery for the perjury of his 
mistress. Cassiope, the mother of Andromeda, having dared to compare 
her own beauty with that of the Nereids, her daughter was, by the com- 
mand of Jupiter, exposed to a sea-monster, which was afterwards slain 
by Perseus. See the Metamorphoses, Book iv. 1. 670. 



348 THE AMOEES ; [b. II. 

is a name without reality, and he is revered in vain, and in- 
fluences people with a silly credulity ; or else, if there is any 
God, he is fond of the charming fair, and gives them alone 
ioo much licence to be able to do any thing. 

Against us Mavors is girded with the fatal sword ; against us 
the lance is directed by the invincible hand of Pallas ; against 
us the flexible bow of Apollo is bent ; against us the lofty 
right hand of Jove wields the lightnings. The offended Gods 
of heaven fear to hurt the fair ; and they spontaneously dread 
those who dread them not. And who, then, would take care 
to place the frankincense in his devotion upon the altars ? At 
least, there ought to be more spirit in men. Jupiter, with his 
fires, hurls at the groves 55 and the towers, and yet he forbids 
his weapons, thus darted, to strike the perjured female; Many 
a one has deserved to be struck. The unfortunate Semele 50 
perished by the flames ; that punishment was found for her 
by her own compliant disposition. But if she had betaken 
herself off, on the approach of her lover, his father would 
not have had for Bacchus the duties of a mother to perform. 

Why do I complain, and why blame all the heavens ? The 
Gods have eyes as well as we ; the Gods have hearts as well . 
Were I a Divinity myself, I would allow a woman with im- 
punity to swear falsely by my Godhead. I myself would 
swear that the fair ever swear the truth ; and I would not 
be pronounced one of the morose Divinities. Still, do you, 
fair one, use their favour with more moderation, or, at least, 
do have some regard 57 for my eyes. 

55 Hurls at the groves.] — Ver. 35. A place which had heen struck by 
lightning was called 'bidental/ and was held sacred ever afterwards. 
The same veneration was also paid to a place where any person who had 
been killed by lightning was buried. Priests collected the earth that 
had been torn up by lightning, and everything that had been scorched, 
and buried it in the ground with lamentations. The spot was then con- 
secrated by sacrificing a two-year-old sheep, which being called ' bidens,' 
gave its name to the place. An altar was also erected there, and it was 
not allowable thenceforth to tread on the spot, or to touch it, or even 
look at it. When the altar had fallen to decay, it might be renovated, but 
to remove its boundaries was deemed sacrilege. Madness was supposed to 
ensue on committing such an offence ; and Seneca mentions a belief, that 
wine which had been struck by lightning, would produce death or mad- 
ness in those who drank it. 

56 Unfortunate Semele.] — Ver. 37. See the fate of Semele, related in 
the Third Book of the Metamorphoses, 

5 ? Have some regard.'] — Ver. 48. Or, in other words, ' Don't swear 
any more by my eye3.' 



E. IV.] OB, AMOUB3. 349 



ELEGY .IV. 

He tells a jealous husband, who watches his wife, that the greater his 
precautions, the greater are the temptations to sin. 

Ceuel husband, by setting a guard over the charming fair, 
thou dost avail nothing ; by her own feelings must each be 
kept. If, all apprehensions removed, any woman is chaste, 
she, in fact, is chaste ; she who sins not, because she cannot, 
still sins. 58 However well you may have guarded the person, 
the mind is still unchaste ; and, unless it chooses, it cannot 
be constrained. You cannot confine the mind, should you lock 
up every thing ; when all is closed, the unchaste one will be 
within. The one who can sin, errs less frequently ; the very 
opportunity makes the impulse to wantonness to be the less' 
powerful. Be persuaded by me, and leave off instigating to 
criminality by constraint ; by indulgence thou mayst restrain 
it much more effectually. 

I have sometimes seen the horse, struggling against his reins, 
rush on like lightning with his resisting mouth. Soon as 
ever he felt that rein was given, he stopped, and the loosened 
bridle lay upon his flowing mane. We are ever striving for 
what is forbidden, and are desiring what is denied us ; even so 
does the sick man hanker after the water that is forbidden him. 
Argus used to carry a hundred eyes in his forehead, a hundred 
in his neck ; 59 and these Love alone many a time evaded. 
Danae, who, a maid, had been placed in the chamber which 
was to last for ever with its stone and its iron, 60 became a 
mother. Penelope, although she was without a keeper, amid 
so many youthful suitors, remained undefiied. 

Whatever is hoarded up, we long for it the more, and the 
very pains invite the thief ; few care for what another grants. 

53 Became she cannot, still sins.~] — Ver. 4. It is not a little singular that 
a heathen poet should enunciate the moral doctrine of the New Testa- 
ment, that it is the thought, and not the action, that of necessity consti- 
tutes the sin. 

59 A hundred in his neck.'] — Ver. 18. In the First Book of the Meta- 
morphoses, he assigns to Argus only one hundred eyes ; here, however, he 
uses a poet's license, probably for the sake of filling up the line. 

6,J Its stone and its iron.} — Ver. 21. From Pausanias and Lucian we 
learn that the chamber of Danae was under ground, and was lined vfitii 
copper and iron. 



350 THE AM0EE3 ; [d. lit. 

Not through her beauty is she captivating, but through the 
fondness of her husband ; people suppose it to be something 
unusual which has so captivated thee. Suppose she is not 
chaste whom her husband is guarding, but faithless ; she is 
beloved ; but this apprehension itself causes her value, rather 
than her beauty. Be indignant if thou dost please ; forbidden 
pleasures delight me : if' any woman can only say, "I am 
afraid," that woman alone pleases me. Nor yet is it legal 61 to 
confine a free-born woman ; let these fears harass the bodies of 
those from foreign parts. That the keeper, forsooth, may be 
able to say, " I caused it ;" she must be chaste for the credit 
of thy slave. He is too much of a churl whom a faithless 
wife injures, and is not sufficiently acquainted with the 
ways of the City ; in which Romulus, the son of Ilia, and 
Remus, the son of Ilia, both begotten by Mars, were not born 
without a crime being committed. Why didst thou choose a 
beauty for thyself, if she was not pleasing unless chaste ? 
Those two qualities 6 ' 2 cannot by any means be united. 

If thou art wise, show indulgence to thy spouse, and lay 
aside thy morose looks ; and assert not the rights of a severe 
husband. Show courtesy, too, to the friends thy wife shall 
find thee, and many a one will she find. 'Tis thus that great 
credit accrues at a very small outlay of labour. Thus wilt 
thou be able always to take part in the festivities of the young 
men, and to see many a thing at home, 63 which you have not 
presented to her. 

ELEGY V. 

A vision, and its explanation. 
'Twas night, and sleep weighed down my wearied eyes. Such 
a vision as this terrified my mind. 

Beneath a sunny hill, a grove was standing, thick set with 
holm oaks ; and in its branches lurked full many a bird. A level 

61 Nor yet is it legal.']— Ver. 33. He tells him that he ought not to 
inflict loss of liberty on a free-born woman, a punishment that was only 
suited to a slave. 

62 Those two qualities.}— Ver. 42. He says, the wish being probably 
the father to the thought, that beauty and chastity cannot possibly exist 
together. 

63 Many a thing at home.']— Ver. 48. He tells him that he will 
grow quite rich with the presents which his wife will then receive from 
her admirers. 



E. V.] OTt, AMOTJES. 351 

spot there was beneath, most verdant with the grassy mead, 
moistened with the drops of the gently trickling stream. Beneath 
the foliage of the trees, I was seeking shelter from the heat j 
still, under the foliage of the trees it was hot. Lo ! seeking for 
the grass mingled with the variegated flowers, a white cow was 
standing before my eyes ; more white than the snows at the 
moment when they have just fallen, which, time has not yet 
turned into flowing water. More white than the milk which 
is white with its bubbling foam, 64 and at that moment leaves 
the ewe when milked. 65 A bull there was, her companion, 
he, in his happiness, was her mate ; and with his own one he 
pressed the tender grass. While he was lying, and slowly 
ruminating upon the grass chewed once again; and once again 
was feeding on the food eaten by him before ; he seemed, as 
sleep took away his strength, to lay his horned head upon the 
ground that supported it. Hither came a crow, gliding through 
the air on light wings ; and chattering, took her seat upon 
the green sward ; and thrice with her annoying beak did she 
peck at the breast of the snow-white cow ; and with her bill 
she took away the white hair. Having remained awhile, she 
left the spot and the bull ; but black envy was in the breast 
of the cow. And when she saw the bulls afar browsing upon 
the pastures (bulls were browsing afar upon the verdant pas- 
tures), thither did she betake herself, and she mingled among 
those herds, and sought out a spot of more fertile grass. 

" Come, tell me, whoever thou art, thou interpreter of the 
dreams of the night, what (if it has any truth) this vision 
means." Thus said I : thus spoke the interpreter of the dreams 
of the night, as he weighed in his mind each particular that 
was seen ; " The heat which thou didst wish to avoid beneath 
the rustling leaves, but didst but poorly avoid, was that of 
Love. The cow is thy mistress ; that complexion is suited to 
the fair. Thou wast the male, and the bull with the fitting 
mate. Inasmuch as the crow pecked at her breast with her 
sharp beak ; an old hag of a procuress 66 will tempt the 

61 Its bubbling foam.'] — Ven 13. He alludes to the noise which the 
milk makes at the moment when it touches that in the pail. 

05 Ewe when milked.] — Ver. 14. Probably the milk of ewes was used 
for making cheese, as is sometimes the case in this country. 

66 Hag of a procuress.] — Ver. 40. We have been already introduced 
lo one amiable specimen of this class in the Eighth Elegy of the First 
Book. 



352 THE AMOEES ; [B. III. 

affections of thy mistress. In that, after hesitating long, his 
heifer left the bull, thou wilt be left to be chilled in a deserted 
couch. Envy and the black spots below the front of her 
breast, show that she is not free from the reproach of incon- 
stancy." 

Thus spoke the interpreter ; the blood retreated from my 
chilled face ; and profound night stood before my eyes. 



ELEGY VI. 

He addresses a river which has obstructed his passage while he is going 
to his mistress. 

River that hast 67 thy slimy banks planted with reeds, to my 
mistress I am hastening ; stay thy waters for a moment. No 
bridges hast thou, nor yet a hollow boat 03 to carry one over 
without the stroke of the oar, by means of the rope thrown 
across. Thou wast a small stream, I recollect ; and I did not 
hesitate to pass across thee ; and the surface of thy waves then 
hardly reached to my ancles. Now, from the opposite moun- 
tain 69 thou dost rush, the snows being melted, and in thy tur- 
bid stream thou dost pour thy muddied waters. What avails 
it me thus to have hastened ? What to have given so little time 
to rest ? What to have made the night all one with the day ? 69 * 

67 River that hast.] — Ver. 1. Ciofanus has this interesting Note : — 
1 This river is that which flows near the walls of Sulmo, and, which, at 
the present day we call ' Vella.' In the early spring, when the snows 
melt, and sometimes, at the beginning of autumn, it swells to a wonderful 
degree with the rains, so that it becomes quite impassable. Ovid lived not 
far from the Fountain of Love, at the foot of the Moronian hill, and had 
a house there, of which considerable vestiges still remain, and are called 
* la botteghe d'Ovidio.' Wishing to go thence to the town of Sulmo, 
where his mistress was living, this river was an obstruction to his passage.' 

63 A hollow boat.] — Ver. 4. ' Cymba' was a name given to small boats 
used on rivers or lakes. He here alludes to a ferry-boat, which was not 
rowed over ; but a chain or rope extending from one side of the stream to 
the other, the boatman passed across by running his hands along the rope. 

69 The opposite mountain.'] — Ver. 7. The mountain of Soracte was 
near the Flaminian way, in the territory of the Falisci, and may possibly 
be the one here alluded to. Ciofanus says that its name is now ' Majella,' 
and that it is equal in height to the loftiest mountains of Italy, and capped 
with eternal snow. 

69 * All one with the day.] — Ver. 10. He means to say that he has risen 
early in the morning for the purpose of proceeding on his journey. 



E. VI. J OB, AMOtTES. 353 

If still I must be standing here ; if, by no contrivance, thy op- 
posite banks are granted to be trodden by my foot. 

Now do I long for the wings which the hero, the son of 
Danae, 70 possessed, when he bore away the head, thickset with 
the dreadful serpents ; now do T wish for the chariot, 71 from 
which the seed of Ceres first came, thrown upon the uncul- 
tivated ground. Of the wondrous fictions of the ancient 
poets do I speak ; no time has produced, nor does produce, 
nor will produce these wonders. Rather, do thou, stream 
that dost overflow thy wide banks, flow within thy limits, 
then for ever mayst thou run on. Torrent, thou wilt not, 
believe me, be able to endure the reproaches, if perchance I 
should be mentioned as detained by thee in my love. 

Rivers ought rather to aid youths in their loves ; rivers 
themselves have experienced what love is. Inachus 72 is said 
to have flowed pale with love for Melie, 73 theBithynian Nymph, 
and to have warmed throughout his cold fords. Not yet was 
Troy besieged for twice five years, when, Xanthus, Neaera at- 
tracted thy eyes. Besides ; did not enduring love for the 
Arcadian maid force Alpheus 74 to run through various lands ? 
They say, too, that thou, Peneus, didst conceal, in the 
lands of the Phthiotians, Creusa, 75 already betrothed to Xan- 
thus. Why should I mention Asopus, whom Thebe, beloved 
by Mars, 76 received, Thebe, destined to be the parent of five 

70 The son of Danae. ] — Ver. 13. Mercury was said to have lent to 
Perseus his winged shoes, ' talaria,' when he slew Medusa with her 
viperous locks. 

71 Wish for the chariot.} — Ver. 15. Ceres was said to have sent Trip- 
tolemus in her chariot, drawn by winged dragons, to introduce agriculture 
among mankind. See the Fourth Book of the Fasti, 1. 558. 

72 Inachus.']— Ver. 25. Inachus was a river of Argolis, ir Peloponnesus. 

73 Love for Melie.] — Ver. 25. Melie was a Nymph beloved by Nep- 
tune, to whom she bore Amycus, king of Bebrycia, or Bithynia, in Asia 
Minor, whence her present appellation. 

74 Alpheus.~\ — Ver 29. See the story of Alpheus and Arethusa, in the 
Fifth Book of the Metamorphoses, 1. 57*6. 

75 Creusa.} — Ver. 31. Creusa was a Naiad, the mother of Hypseas, 
king of the Lapithae, by Peneus, a river of Thessaly. Xanthus was a 
rivulet near Troy. Of Creusa being promised to Xanthus nothing what- 
ever is known. 

76 Thebe beloved by Mars.] — Ver. 33. Pindar, in his Sixth Olympic 
Ode, says that Metope, the daughter of Ladon, was the mother of five 
daughters, by Asopus, a river of Boeotia. Their names were Corcyra, 

A A 



354 THE AMOBES ; [b. III. 

daughters ? Should I ask of Achelous, " Where now are thy 
horns ?" thou wouldst complain that they were broken away by 
the wrathful hand of Hercules. 77 Not of such value was Caly- 
don, 78 nor of such value was the whole of iEtolia ; still, of 
such value was De'ianira alone. The enriching Nile, that flows 
through his seven mouths, who so well conceals the native 
spot 7s of waters so vast, is said not to have been able to over- 
power by his stream the flame that was kindled by Evadne, 
the daughter of Asopus. 80 Enipeus, dried up, 81 that he might 
be enabled to embrace the daughter of Salmoneus, bade his 
waters to depart ; his waters, so ordered, did depart. 

Nor do I pass thee by, who as thou dost roll amid the hol- 
low rocks, foaming, dost water the fields of Argive Tibur ; 82 
whom Ilia 83 captivated, although she was unsightly in her 

jEgina, Salamis, Thebe, and Harpinna. Ovid, in calling her Thebe, pro- 
bably follows some other writer. She is called ' Martia,' because she was 
beloved by Mars, to whom she bore Evadne. 

77 Hand of Hercules.} — Ver. 36. For the contest of Hercules and 
Achelous for the hand of De'ianira, see the beginning of the Ninth Book 
of the Metamorphoses. 

78 Cali/don.] — Ver. 37. (Eneus, the father of Meleager and De'ianira, 
reigned over iEtolia, of which Calydon was the chief city. 

79 The native spot.~\ — Ver. 40; He alludes to the fact of the source or 
native country of the Nile being then, as it probably still is, quite un- 
known. 

80 Daughter of Asopus.] — Ver. 41. Evadne is called 'Asopide,' from 
her mother being the wife of Asopus. See the Note on line 33 above. 

81 Enipeus dried up.] — Ver. 43. Probably the true reading here is 
1 Actus,' ' the false Enipeus.' Tyro was the daughter of Salmoneus, king 
of Pisa, in Elis. She being much enamoured of the river Enipeus, Nep- 
tune is said to have assumed his form, and to have been, by her, the father 
of Pelias and Neleus. 

82 Argive Tibur,"] — Ver. 46. Tibur was a town beautifully situate in 
the neighbourhood of Rome ; it was said to have been founded by three 
Argive brothers, Tyburtus, Catillus, and Coras. 

83 Whom Ilia.] — Ver. 47. Ilia was said to have been buried alive, by 
the orders of Amulius, on the banks of the river Tiber ; or, according to 
some, to have been thrown into that river, on which she is said to have 
become the wife of the river, and was deified. Acron, an ancient his- 
torian, wrote to the effect that her ashes were interred on the banks of 
the Anio ; and that river overflowing, carried them to the bed of the 
Tiber, whence arose the story of her nuptials with the latter. Accord- 
ing to one account, she was not put to death, but was imprisoned, 
(having been spared by Amulius at the entreaty of his daughter, who was 
of the same age as herself,) and at length regained her liberty. 



E. VI.] OB, AMOURS. 355 

garb, bearing the marks of her nails on her locks, the 
marks of her nails on her cheeks. Bewailing both the crimes 
of her uncle, and the fault of Mars, she was wandering along 
the solitary spots with naked feet. Her the impetuous stream 
beheld from his rapid waves, and raised his hoarse mouth 
from the midst of his fords, and thus he said : " Why, in sor- 
row, art thou pacing my banks, Ilia, the descendant of Lao- 
medon 84 of Ida ? Whither have gone thy vestments ? Why 
wandering thus alone 1 And why does no white fillet 85 bind 
thy hair tied up ? Why weepest thou, and why spoil thy 
eyes wet with tears ? And why beat thy open breast with 
frenzied hand ? That man has both flints and ore of iron in his 
breast, who, unconcerned, beholds the tears on thy delicate 
face. Ilia, lay aside thy fears ; my palace shall be opened 
unto thee ; the streams, too, shall obey thee ; Ilia, lay aside 
thy fears. Among a hundred Nymphs or more, thou shalt 
hold the sway ; for a hundred or more does my stream con- 
tain. Only, descendant of Troy, despise me not, I pray ; gifts 
more abundant than my promises shalt thou receive." 

Thus he said ; she casting on the ground her modest eyes, as 
she wept, besprinkled her warm breast with her tears. Thrice 
did she attempt to fly ; thrice did she stop short at the deep 
waves, as fear deprived her of the power of running. Still, at 
last, as with hostile fingers she tore her hair, with quivering 
lips she uttered these bitter words ; " Oh ! would that my 
bones had been gathered up, and hidden in the tomb of my 
fathers, while yet they could be gathered, belonging to me a 
virgin ! Why now, am I courted 86 for any nuptials, a Vestal 
disgraced, and to be driven from the altars of Ilium 1 Why 
do I hesitate ? See ! by the fingers of the multitude am I 
pointed at as unchaste. Let this disgrace be ended, which 
marks my features. 

Thus far did she speak, and before her swollen eyes she ex- 

s-* Descendant of Laomedon.] — Ver. 54. She was supposed to be 
descended from Laomedon, through Ascanius, the son of Creiisa, the 
granddaughter of Laomedon. 

85 No white fillet.']— Ver. 56. The fillet with which the Vestals 
bound their hair. 

m Am I courted."] — Ver. 75. The Vestals were released from their 
duties, and were allowed to marry if they chose, after they had served 
for thirty years. The first ten years were passed in learning their duties, 
the next ten in performing them, and the last ten in instructing the novices. 

A A 2 



356 THE AMOEES ; [b. ITT. 

tended her robe ; and so, in her despair, did she throw her- 
self 87 into the rapid waters. The flowing stream is said to 
have placed his hands beneath her breast, and to have con- 
ferred on her the privilege of his nuptial couch. 

'Tis worthy of belief, too, that thou hast been inflamed 
with love for some maiden ; but the groves and woods conceal 
thy failings. 

While I have been talking, it has become more swollen 
with its extending waves, and the deep channel contains 
not the rushing waters. What, furious torrent, hast thou 
against me ? Why thus delay our mutual transports ? Why, 
churlish river, interrupt the journey once commenced ? What 
if thou didst flow according to some fixed rule, 88 a river of 
some note ? What if thy fame was mighty throughout the 
earth ? But no name hast thou collected from the exhausted 
rivulets ; thou hast no springs, no certain abode hast thou. 
In place of spring, thou hast rain and melted snow ; resources 
which the sluggish winter supplies to thee. Either in muddy 
guise, in winter time, thou dost speed onward in thy course ; 
or filled with dust, thou dost pass over the parched ground. 
What thirsty traveller has been able to drink of thee then ? 
Who has said, with grateful lips, " Mayst thou flow on for 
ever?" 

Onward thou dost run, injurious to the flocks, 89 still more 
injurious to the fields. Perhaps these mischiefs may move 
others ; my own evils move me. And, oh shocking ! did I in 
my madness relate to this stream the loves of the rivers ? I am 
ashamed unworthily to have pronounced names so great. 
Gazing on I know not what, could I speak of the rivers 90 
Achelous and Inachus, and could I, Nile, talk of thy name ? 
But for thy deserts, torrent far from clear, I wish that for 
thee there may be scorching heat, and winter always dry. 

87 Did she throw herself. .] — Ver. 80. The Poet follows the account 
which represented her as drowning herself. 

88 To some fixed rule. 1 — Ver. 89. ' Legitimum' means 'according to 
fixed laws ;' so that it might he depended upon, ' in a steady manner.' 

89 Injurious to the flocks. ~\ — Ver. 99. It would he 'damnosus' in 
many ways, especially from its sweeping away the cattle and the produce 
of the land. Its waters, too, being turbid, would be unpalatable to the 
thirsty traveller, and unwholesome from the melted snow, which would 
be likely to produce goitre, or swellings in the throat. 

90 Could I speak of the rivers.] — Ver. 103. He apologizes to the Ache- 
loiis, Inachus, and Nile, for presuming to mention their names, in address- 
ing such a turbid, contemptible stream. 



B. VII.] OE, AMOTJES. 

ELEGY VII. 

At non formosa est, at non bene culta puella ; 

At, puto, non votis ssepe petita meis. 
Hanc tamen in nullos tenui male languidus usus, 

Sed jacui pigro crimen onusque toro. 
Nee potui cupiens, pariter cupiente puella, 

Inguinis effceti parte juvante frui. 
Ilia quidem nostro subjecit eburnea collo 

Brachia, Sithonia candidiora nive ; 
Osculaque inseruit cupidse lactantia linguse ; 

Lascivum femor^supposuitque femur ; 
Et mibi blanditias dixit, Dominumque vocavit, 

Et quae prseterea publica verba juvant. 
Tacta tamen veluti gelida mea membra cicuta, 

Segnia propositum destituere suum. 
Truncus iners jacui, species, et inutile pondus : 

Nee satis exacturri est, corpus an umbra forem, 
Quae mihi ventura est, (siquidem ventura), senectus, 

Cum desit numeris ipsa juventa suis 1 
Ah pudet annorum ! quo me juvenemque virumque, 

Nee juvenem, nee me sensit arnica virum. 
Sic flammas aditura pias eeterna sacerdos 

Surgit, et a caro fratre verenda soror. 
At nuper bis flava Chlide, ter Candida Pitho, 

Ter Libas officio continuata meo. 
Exigere a nobis angusta nocte Corinnam, 

Me memini numeros sustinuisse novem. 
Num mea Thessalico languent devota veneno 

Corpora ? num misero carmen et herba nocent ? 
Sagave Punicea defixit nomina cera, 

Et medium tenues in jecur egit acus ? 
Carmine lsesa Ceres sterilem vanescit in herbam : 

Deficiunt lsesse carmine fontis aquae : 
Ilicibus glandes, cantataque vitibus uva 

Decidit ; et nullo poma movente fluunt. 
Quid vetat et nervos magicas torpere per artes ? 

Forsitan impatiens sit latus inde meum. 
Hue pudor accessit : facti pudor ipse nocebat : 

Ille fuit vitii causa secunda mei. 
At qualem vidi tantum tetigique puellam, 

Sic etiam tunica tangitur ipsa sua. 
Illius ad tactum Pylius juvenescere possit, 

Tithonusque annis fortior esse suis. 



358 THE AMORES ; [b. III. 

Hsec mihi contigerat ; sed vir non contigit illi. 

Quas nunc concipiam per nova vota preces ? 
Credo etiam magnos, quo sum tarn turpiter usus, 

Muneris oblati pcenituisse' Deos. 
Optabam certe recipi ; sura nempe receptus : 

Oscula ferre ; tuli : proxiraus esse ; fui. 
Quo mihi fortunse tantura ? quo regna sine usu 1 

Quid, nisi possedi dives avarus opes ? 
Sic aret mediis taciti vulgator in undis ; 

Pomaque, quae nullo tempore tangat, habet, 
A tenera quisquam sic surgit mane puella, 

Protinus ut sanctos possit adire Deos. 
Sed non blanda, puto, non optima perdidit in me 

Oscula, non omni solicitavit ope. 
Ilia graves potuit quercus, adamantaque durum, 

Surdaque blanditiis saxa movere suis. 
Digna movere fuit certe vivosque virosque ; 

Sed neque turn vixi, nee vir, ut ante, fui. 
Quid juvet, ad surdas si cantet Phemius aures ? 

Quid miserum Thamyran picta tabella juvet ? 
At quse non tacita formavi gaudia mente ! 

Quos ego non finxi disposuique modos ! 
Nostra tamen jacuere, velut praemortua, membra 

Turpiter, hesterna languidiora rosa. 
Quae nunc ecce rigent intempestiva, valentque ; 

Nunc opus exposcunt, militiamque suam. 
Quin istic pudibunda jaces, pars pessima nostri ? 

Sic sum pollicitis captus et ante tuis. 
Tu dominam fallis ; per te deprensus inermis 

Tristia cum magno darana pudore tuli. 
Hanc etiam non est mea dedignata puella 

Molliter admota solicitare raanu. 
Sed postquam nullas consurgere posse per artes> 

Imraemoremque sui procubuisse videt ; 
Quid me ludis ? ait ; quis te, male sane, jubebat 

Invitum nostro ponere membra toro ? 
A,ut te trajectis iEaea venefica lanis 

Devovet, aut alio lassus amore venis. 
Nee mora ; desiluit tunica velata recincta : 

Et decuit nudos proripuisse pedes. 
Neve suae possent intactam scire ministrse, 

Dedecus hoc sumta dissimulavit aqua. 



E. Till. J OE, AMOURS. 359 

ELEGY VIII. 

He laments that he is not received by his mistress, and complains that 
she. gives the preference to a wealthy rival. 

Akd does any one still venerate the liberal arts, or suppose 
that soft verses have any merit 1 Genius once was more pre- 
cious than gold ; but now, to be possessed of nought is the 
height of ignorance. After my poems 91 have proved very 
pleasing to my mistress, it is not allowed me to go where it 
has been allowed my books. When she has much bepraised 
me, her door is shut on him who is praised ; talented though 
I be, I disgracefully wander up and down. 

Behold ! a Knight gorged with blood, lately enriched, his 
wealth acquired 92 through his wounds, 93 is preferred before 
myself. And can you, my life, enfold him in your charming 
arms ? Can you, my life, rush into his embrace 1 If you know 
it not, that head used to wear a helmet ; that side which is so 
at your service, was girded with a sword. That left hand, 
which thus late 94 the golden ring so badly suits, used to bear 
the shield ; touch his right, it has been stained with blood. 
And can you touch that right hand, by which some person 
has met his death ? Alas ! where is that tenderness of heart 
of yours ? Look at his scars, the traces of his former fights ; 
whatever he possesses, by that body was it acquired. 95 Per- 
haps, too, he will tell how often he has stabbed a man ; 
covetous one, will you touch the hand that confesses this 1 
I, unstained, the priest of the Muses and of Phoebus, am he 

91 After my poems. 1 — Ver. 5. He refers to his lighter works; such, 
perhaps, as the previous books of his Amores. This explains the nature 
of the ' libelli,' which he refers to in his address to his mistress, in the 
Second Book of the Amores, El. xi. 1. 31. 

92 His wealth acquired. ,] — Ver. 9. ' Censu.' For the explanation of 
this word, see the Fasti, B. i. 1. 217, and the Note to the passage. 

93 Through his wounds.'] — Ver. 9. In battle, either by giving wounds, 
or receiving them. 

94 Which thus late."] — Ver. 15. By 'serum,' he means that his posi- 
tion, as a man of respectable station, has only been recently acquired, and 
has not descended to him through a long line of ancestors. 

95 Was it acquired.] — Ver. 20. This was really much to the merit of 
his rival ; but most of the higher classes of the Romans affected to des- 
pise anything like gain by means of bodily exertion ; and the Poet has 
extended this feeling even to the rewards of merit as a soldier. 



360 THE AMORES ; [b. I [J. 

who is singing his bootless song before your obdurate 
doors. 

Learn, you who are wise, not what we idlers know, but how 
to follow the anxious troops, and the ruthless camp ; instead 
of good verses hold sway over y6 the first rank ; through this, 
Homer, hadst thou wished it, she might have proved kind to 
thee. Jupiter, well aware that nothing is more potent than 
gold, was himself the reward of the ravished damsel.* 7 So long 
as the bribe was wanting, the father was obdurate, she herself 
prudish, the door-posts bound with brass, the tower made of 
iron ; but after the knowing seducer resorted to presents, 98 
she herself opened her lap ; and, requested to surrender, she 
did surrender. 

But when the aged Saturn held the realms of the heavens, 
the ground kept all money deep in its recesses. To the shades 
below had he removed brass and silver, and, together with gold, 
the weight of iron ; and no ingots were there in those times. 
But she used to give what was better, corn without the 
crooked plough-share, apples too, and honey found in the 
hollow oak. And no one used with sturdy plough to cleave 
the soil ; with no boundaries" did the surveyor mark out 
the ground. The oars dipped down did not skim the up- 

96 Hold sway over.] — Ver. 27. He here plays upon the two meanings 
of the word ' deducere.' 4 Deducere carmen ' is ' to compose poetry '; 
' deducere primum pilum ' means ' to form ' or ' command the first troop 
of the Triarii.' These were the veteran soldiers of the Roman army, and 
the ' Primipilus' (which office is here alluded to) being the first Centurion 
of the first maniple of them, was the chief Centurion of the legion, holding 
an office somewhat similar to our senior captains. Under the Empire this 
office was very lucrative. See the Note to the 49th line of the Seventh 
Epistle, in the Fourth Book of the Pontic Epistles. 

97 The ravished damsel.] — Ver. 30. He alludes to Danae. 

98 Resorted to presents.] — Ver. 33. He seems to allude to the real 
meaning of the story of Danae, which, no doubt, had reference to the 
corrupting influence of money. 

99 With no boundaries.] — Ver. 42. The 'limes ' was a line or bound- 
ary, between pieces of land belonging to different persons, and consisted 
of a path, or ditch, or a row of stones. The ' ager limitatus' was the 
public land marked out by ' limites,' for the purposes of allotment to the 
citizens. On apportioning the land, a line, which was called 'limes,' was 
drawn through a given point from East to West, which was called 
' decumanus,' and another line was drawn from North to South. The dis- 
tance at which the ' limites' were to be drawn depended on the magnitude 
of the squares or ' centuriae,' as they were called, into which it was pur- 
posed to divide the tract. 



E. VIII. J 



OE, AMOUBS. 361 



turned waves ; then was the shore 1 the limit of the paths of 
men. Human nature, against thyself hast thou been so 
clever ; and for thy own destruction too ingenious. To what 
purpose surround cities with turreted fortifications? 2 To 
what purpose turn hostile hands to arms ? What hast thou 
to do with the sea ? With the earth thou mightst have been 
content. Why not seek the heavens 3 as well, for a third 
realm ? To the heavens, too, dost thou aspire, so far as thou 
mayst. Quirinus, Liber, and Alcides, and Caesar but recently, 4 
have their temples. 

Instead of corn, we dig the solid gold from the earth ; the 
soldier possesses riches acquired by blood. To the poor 
is the Senate-house 5 shut ; wealth alone confers honours ; 6 
hence, the judge so grave ; hence the knight so proud. Let 
them possess it all ; let the field of Mars 7 and the Forum 8 

1 Then was the shore."] — Ver. 44. Because they had not as yet learnt 
the art of navigation. 

2 Turreted fortifications.] — Ver. 47. Among the ancients the fortifica- 
tions of cities were strengthened by towers, which were placed at intervals 
on the walls ; they were also generally used at the gates of towns. 

3 Why not seek the heavens. — Ver. 50. With what indignation would 
he not have spoken of a balloon, as being nothing less than a downright 
attempt to scale the ' tertia regna !' 

4 Cmar hut recently.] — Ver. 52. See the end of the Fifteenth Book 
of the Metamorphoses, and the Fasti, Book hi. 1. 704. 

5 The Senate-house. — Ver. 55. 'Curia' was the name of the place 
where the Senate held its meetings, such as the ' curia Hostilia,' * Julia,' 
Marcelli,' and others. Hence arose the custom of calling the Senate 
itself, in the various Roman towns, by the name of ' curia,' but not the 
Senate of Rome. He here means to say, that poverty excluded a man from 
the Senate-house, and that wealth alone was the qualification for the 
honours of the state. 

6 Wealth alone confers honours.] — Ver. 55. The same expression occurs 
in the Fasti, Book i. 1. 217, where a similar complaint is made on the 
worldly-mindedness of the age. 

7 The Field of Mars.] — Ver. 57. The 'comitia,' or meetings for the 
elections of the magistrates, were held on the ' Campus Martius ' or field 
of Mars. See the Notes to the Fasti, Book i. 1. 53. 

8 And the Forum.] — Ver. 57. The ' Fora' were of two kinds at Rome ; 
some being market-places, where all kinds of goods were exposed for sale, 
while others were solely courts of justice. Among the latter is the one 
here mentioned, which was simply called ' Forum,' so long as it was 
the only one of its kind existing at Rome, and, indeed, after that period, 
as in the present instance. At a later period of the Republic, and under 
the Empire, when other 'fora,' for judicial purposes, were erected, this 
' Forum' was distinguished by the epithets ' vetus,' ' old,' or ' magnum,' 



362 THE AMOBES ; [b. III. 

obey them ; let these administer peace and cruel warfare. 
Only, in their greediness, let them not tear away my mistress ; 
and 'tis enough, so they but allow something to belong to 
the poor. 

But now-a-days, he that is able to give away plenty, rules 
it over a woman like a slave, even should she equal the 
prudish Sabine dames. The keeper is in my way ; with re- 
gard to me, 9 she dreads her husband. If I were to make pre- 
sents, both of them would entirely disappear from the house. 
Oh ! if any God is the avenger of the neglected lover, may he 
change riches, so ill-gotten, into dust. 



ELEGY IX. 

He laments the death of the Poet Tibullus. 
If his mother has lamented Memnon, his mother Achilles, 
and if sad deaths influence the great Goddesses ; plaintive 
Elegy, unbind thy sorrowing tresses ; alas ! too nearly will thy 
name be derived from fact ! The Poet of thy own inspiration, 10 
Tibullus, thy glory, is burning, a lifeless body, on the erected 
pile. 11 Lo ! the son of Venus bears both his quiver inverted, 

' great.' It was situate between the Capitoline and Palatine hills, and 
was originally a swamp or marsh, which was filled up by Romulus or 
Tatius. It was chiefly used for judicial proceedings, and is supposed to 
have been surrounded with the bankers' shops or offices, ' argentaria.' 
Gladiatorial games were occasionally held there, and sometimes prisoners 
of war, and faithless legionary soldiers, were there put to death. A 
second ' Forum,' for judicial purposes, was erected by Julius Caesar, and 
was called by his name. It was adorned with a splendid temple of Venus 
Genitrix. A third was built by Augustus, and was called ' Forum Au- 
gusts' It was adorned with a temple of Mars, and the statues of the 
most distinguished men of the republic. Having suffered severely from 
fire, this Forum was restored by the Emperor Hadrian. It is mentioned 
in the Fourth Book of the Pontic Epistles, Ep. xv. 1. 16. See the Fasti, 
Book hi. 1. 704. 

9 With regard to me.] — Ver. 63. He says that because he is poor she 
makes excuses, and pretends that she is afraid of her husband and those 
whom he has set to watch her. 

10 Of thy own inspiration.'] — Ver. 5. Burmann remarks, that the 
word ' opus ' is especially applied to the sacred rites of the Gods ; literally 
' the priest of thy rites.' 

11 The erected pile.] — Ver. 6. Among the Romans the corpse was burnt 
on a pile of wood, which was called ' pyra,' or 'rogus.' According to 
Servius, it was called by the former name before, and by the latter after, 



E. IX.] OR, AMOURS. 363 

and his bow broken, and his torch without a flame ; behold 
how wretched with drooping wings he goes : and how he beats 
his naked breast with cruel hand. His locks dishevelled 
about his neck receive his tears, and his mouth resounds with 
sobs that convulse his body. 'Twas thus, beauteous Iiilus, they 
say that thou didst go forth from thy abode, at the funeral 
of his brother iEneas. Not less was Venus afflicted when 
Tibullus died, than when the cruel boar 12 tore the groin of 
the youth. 

And yet we Poets are called f hallowed,' and the care of the 
Deities ; there are some, too, who believe that we possess in- 
spiration. 13 Inexorable Death, forsooth, profanes all that is 
hallowed ; upon all she lays her 14 dusky hands. What availed 
his father, what, his mother, for Ismarian Orpheus ? 15 What, 
with his songs to have lulled the astounded wild beasts ? The 
same father is said, in the lofty woods, to have sung ' Linus ! 
Alas ! Linus ! Alas !' 16 to his reluctant lyre. Add the son of 

it was lighted, but this distinction is not observed by the Latin writers. 
It was in the form of an altar with four equal sides, but it varied in height 
and the mode of decoration, according to the circumstances of the de- 
ceased. On the pile the body was placed with the couch on which it had 
been carried ; and frankincense, ointments, locks of hair, and garlands, 
were thrown upon it. Even ornaments, clothes, and dishes of food were 
sometimes used for the same purpose. This was done not only by the 
family of the deceased, but by such persons as joined the funeral pro- 
cession. 

12 The cruel boar. ,] — Ver. 16. He alludes to the death of Adonis, by 
the tusk of a boar, which pierced his thigh. See the Tenth Book of the 
Metamorphoses, I. 716. 

13 We possess inspiration. .] — Ver. 17. In the Sixth Book of the Fasti, 
6, he says. ' There is a Deity within us (Poets) : under his guidance 

we glow with inspiration ; this poetic fervour contains the impregnating 
particles of the mind of the Divinity.' 

14 She lays her.} — Ver. 20. It must be remembered that, whereas we 
personify Death as of the masculine gender ; the Romans represented the 
grim tyrant as being a female. It is a curious fact that we find Death 
very rarely represented as a skeleton on the Roman monuments. The 

keleton of a child has, in one instance, been found represented on one 
of the tombs of Pompeii. The head of a horse was one of the most 
common modes of representing death, as it signified departure. 

15 Ismarian Orpheus.} — Ver. 21. Apollo and the Muse Calliope were 
the parents of Orpheus, who met with a cruel death. See the beginning 
of the Eleventh Book of the Metamorphoses. 

16 Linus ! Alas /] — "Ver. 23. ' jElinon ' was said to have been the ex- 
clamation of Apollo, on the death of his son, the poet Linus. The word 



364 THE AMORES ; [b. lit. 

Maeon, 17 too, by whom, as though an everlasting stream, the 
mouths of the poets are refreshed by the waters of Pieria : 
him, too, has his last day overwhelmed in black Avernus ; 
his verse alone escapes the all-consuming pile. The fame of 
the Trojan toils, the work of the Poets is lasting, and the slow 
web woven 18 again through the stratagem of the night. So 
shall Nemesis, so Delia, 19 have a lasting name ; the one, his 
recent choice, the other his first love. 

What does sacrifice avail thee? 20 Of what use are now 
the 'sistra' of Egypt ? What, lying apart 21 in a forsaken bed? 
When the cruel Destinies snatch away the good, (pardon the 
confession) I am tempted to think that there are no Deities, 
Live pioilsly ; pious though you be, you shall die ; attend the 
sacred worship ; still ruthless Death shall drag the worshipper 
from the temples to the yawning tomb. 22 Put your trust in 
the excellence of your verse ; see ! Tibullus lies prostrate ; of so 
much, there hardly remains enough for a little urn to receive. 

And, hallowed Poet, have the flames of the pile consumed 
thee, and have they not been afraid to feed upon that heart 
of thine ? They could have burned the golden temples of the 

is derived from the Greek, 'at Aivbg,' * Alas ! Linus.' A certain poetic 
measure was called by this name ; but we learn from Athenaeus, that it was 
not always confined to pathetic subjects. There appear to have been two 
persons of the name of Linus. One was a Theban, the son of Apollo, 
and the instructor of Orpheus and Hercules, while the other was the son 
of an Argive princess, by Apollo, who, according to Statius, was torn to 
pieces in his infancy by dogs. 

17 The son of Meson.'] — Ver. 25. See the Note to the ninth line of the 
Fifteenth Elegy of the First Book of the Amores. 

18 Slow web woven.] — Ver. 30. The web of Penelope. 

19 Nemesis, so Delia.] — Ver. 31. Nemesis and Delia were the names 
of damsels whose charms were celebrated by Tibullus. 

20 Sacrifice avail thee.] — Ver. 33. He alludes to two lines in the 
First Elegy of Tibullus. 

' Quid tua nunc Isis mihi Delia ? quid mihi prosunt 
Ilia tua toties sera repulsa manu.' 

' What have I now to do, Delia, with your Isis ? what avail me those sistra 
so often shaken by your hand ? ' 

21 What lying apart.] — Ver. 34. During the festival of Isis, all inter- 
course with men was forbidden to the female devotees. 

22 The yawning tomb.] — Ver. 38. The place where a person was 
burnt was called 'bustum,' if he was afterwards buried on the same 
spot, and ' ustrina,' or ' ustrinum,' if he was buried at a different place. 
See the Notes to the Fasti, B. ii. 1. 534. 



E. IX.] OK, AMOURS. 365 

holy Gods, that have dared a crime so great. She turned 
away her face, who holds the towers of Eryx; 23 there are 
some, too, who affirm that she did not withhold her tears. But 
still, this is better than if the Phseacian land 24 had buried him 
a stranger, in an ignoble spot. Here, 25 at least, a mother 
pressed his tearful eyes 26 as he fled, and presented the last 
gifts 27 to his ashes ; here a sister came to share the grief with 
her wretched mother, tearing her unadorned locks. And with 
thy relatives, both Nemesis and thy first love 28 joined their 

23 The towers of Eryx.~\ — Ver. 45. He alludes to Venus, who had a 
splendid temple on Mount Eryx, in Sicily. 

24 The Phceacian land.] — Ver. 47. The Phaeacians were the ancient 
people of Corcyra, now the isle of Corfu. Tibullus had attended Messala 
thither, and falling ill, was unable to accompany his patron on his return to 
Rome, on which he addressed to him the First Elegy of his Third Book, 
in which he expressed a hope that he might not die among the Phaeacians. 
To this Elegy Ovid here refers. Tibullus afterwards recovered, and died 
at Rome. When he penned this line, Ovid little thought that his own 
bones would one day rest in a much more ignoble spot than Corcyra, and 
one much more repulsive to the habits of civilization. 

25 Here.'] — Ver. 49. ' Hie' here seems to be the preferable reading ; 
alluding to Rome, in contradistinction to Corcyra. 

26 His tearful eyes.] — Ver. 49. He alludes to the custom of the 
nearest relative closing the eyes of the dying person. 

27 The last gifts.] — Ver. 50. The perfumes and other offerings which 
were thrown on the burning pile, are here alluded to. Tibullus says, in 
the same Elegy — 

' Non soror Assyrios cineri quae dedat odores, 
Et neat efFusis ante sepulchra comis ' 
' No sister have I here to present to my ashes the Assyrian perfumes, and 
to weep before my tomb with dishevelled locks.' To this passage Ovid 
makes reference in the next two hues. 

28 Thy first love.] — Ver. 53. ' Prior ;' his former love was Delia, who 
was forsaken by him for Nemesis. They are both represented here as 
attending his obsequies. Tibullus says, in the First Elegy of the First 
Book, addressing Delia : — 

' Te spectem, suprema mihi cum venerit hora, 

Te teneam moriens, deficiente manu. 
Flebis et arsuro positum me, Delia, lecto, 

Tristibus et lacrymis oscula mista dabis.' 
1 May I look upon you when my last hour comes, when dying, may I hold 
you with my failing hand. Delia, you will lament me, too, when placed 
on my bier, doomed to the pile, and will give me kisses mingled with the 
tears of grief.' To these lines Ovid evidently here refers. It would 
appear from the present passage, that it was the custom to give the last 
kiss when the body was laid on the funeral pile. 



366 THE AMORES ; [b. III. 

kisses ; and they left not the pile in solitude. Delia, as she 
departed, said, " More fortunately was I beloved by thee ; so 
long as I was thy flame, thou didst live." To her said 
Nemesis : " What dost thou say ? Are my sufferings a pain to 
thee ? When dying, he grasped me with his failing hand." 29 

If, however, aught of us remains, but name and spirit, Ti- 
bullus will exist in the Elysian vales. Go to meet him, learned 
Catullus, 30 with thy Calvus, having thy youthful temples bound 
with ivy. Thou too, Gallus, (if the accusation of the injury 
of thy friend is false) prodigal of thy blood 31 and of thy life. 

Of these, thy shade is the companion ; if only there is any 
shade of the body, polished Tibullus ; thou hast swelled the 
blessed throng. Rest, bones, I pray, in quiet, in the un- 
touched urn ; and may the earth prove not heavy for thy 
ashes. 

29 With his failing hand.] — Ver. 58. Nemesis here alludes to the 
above line, and tells Delia, that she, herself, alone engaged his affection, 
as it was she alone who held his hand when he died. 

30 Learned Catullus.] — Ver. 62. Catullus was a Roman poet, a native 
of Verona. Calvus was also a Roman poet of great merit. The poems 
of Catullus and Calvus were set to music by Hermogenes, Tigellius, and 
Demetrius, who were famous composers. See the Tristia, Book ii. lines 
427 and 431, and the Notes to the passages. 

31 Prodigal of thy blood.] — Ver. 64. He alludes to the fact of Gallus 
having killed himself, and to his having been suspected of treason against 
Augustus, from whom he had received many marks of kindness. Ovid 
seems to hint, in the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 446, that the fault of Gallus was 
his having divulged the secrets of Augustus, when he was in a state of 
inebriety. Some writers say, that when Governor of Egypt, he caused 
his name and exploits to be inscribed on the Pyramids, and th t this 
constituted his crime. Others again, suppose that he was guilty of 
extortion in Egypt, and that he especially harassed the people of Thebes 
with his exactions. Some of the Commentators think that under the 
name ' amicus,' Augustus is not here referred to, inasmuch as it would 
seem to bespeak a familiar acquaintanceship, which is not known to have 
existed. Scaliger thinks that it must refer to some misunderstanding 
which had taken place between Gallus and Tibullus, in which the former 
was accused of having deceived his friend. 



E. X.] GE, AMOURS. 36 7 



ELEGY X. 

He complains to Ceres' that during her rites he is separated from his 
mistress. 

The yearly season of the rites of Ceres 32 is come : my mistress 
lies apart on a solitary couch. Yellow Ceres, having thy 
floating locks crowned with ears- of corn, why dost thou inter- 
fere with my pleasures by thy rites ? Thee, Goddess, nations 
speak of as bounteous everywhere : and no one is less unfa- 
vorable to the blessings of mankind. 

In former times the uncouth peasants did not parch the 
corn ; and the threshing floor was a name unknown on earth. 
But the oaks, the early oracles, 33 used to bear acorns ; these, 
and the grass of the shooting sod, were the food of men. 
Ceres was the first to teach the seed to swell in the fields, and 
with the sickle did she cut her coloured locks ; she first forced 
the bulls to place their necks beneath the yoke ; and she 
with crooked tooth turned up the fallow ground. Can any one 
believe that she takes delight in the tears of lovers, and is 
duly propitiated with misery and single-blessedness ? Nor 
yet (although she loves the fruitful fields) is she a coy one ; 
nor has she a breast devoid of love. The Cretans shall be my 
witnesses ; and the Cretans do not feign everything ; the 
Cretans, a nation proud of having nurtured Jove. 34 There, 
he who rules the starry citadel of the world, a little child, 
drank milk with tender lips. There is full confidence in 
the witness ; by its foster-child the witness is recommended. 
I think that Ceres will confess her frailties, so well known. 

The Goddess had beheld Iasius 35 at the'foot of Cretan Ida, 

32 The rites of Ceres.'] — Ver. 1. This festival, of Ceres occurred on 
the Fifth of the Ides of April, heing the 12th day of that month. See 
the Fasti, Book iv. 1. 393. White garments were worn at this festival, 
and woollen robes of dark colour were prohibited. The worship was 
conducted solely by females, and all intercourse with men was forbidden, 
who were not allowed to approach the altars of the Goddess. 

33 The oaks, the early oracles.'] — Ver. 9. On the oaks, the oracles of 
Dodona, see the Translation of the Metamorphoses, pages 253 and 467. 

34 Having nurtured Jove.] — Ver. 20. See an account of the educa- 
tion of Jupiter, by the Curetes, in Crete, in the Fourth Book of the Fasti, 
1. 499, et seq. 

35 Beheld Jusius.] — Ver. 25. Iasius, or Iasion, was, according to mort 



368 THE AMOBES ; [B. III. 

as he pierced the backs of the wild beasts with unerring hand. 
She beheld, and when her tender marrow caught the flame; on 
the one side Shame, on the other Love, inflamed her. Shame 
was conquered by Love ; you might see the furrows lying dry, 
and the crops coming up with a very small proportion of 
their wheat.™ When the mattocks stoutly wielded had turned 
up the land, and the crooked plough had broken the hard 
earth, and the seed had fallen equally scattered over the wide 
fields ; the hopes of the deceived husbandman were vain. 

The Goddess, the guardian of corn, was lingering in the lofty 
woods ; the wreaths of corn had fallen from her flowing locks. 
Crete alone was fertile in its fruitful year ; all places, whither 
the Goddess had betaken herself, were one continued harvest. 
Ida, the locality itself for groves, grew white with corn, and 
the wild boar cropped the ears in the woods. The law-giving 
Minos 37 wished for himself many like years ; he wished that 
the love of Ceres might prove lasting. 

Whereas, yellow-haired Goddess, single-blessedness would 
have been sad to thee ; this am I now compelled by thy 
rites to endure. Why should I be sad, when thy daughter 
has been found again by thee, and rules over realms, only less 
than Juno in rank ? This festive day calls for both Venus, 
and songs, and wine. These gifts is it fitting to bear to the 
ruling Gods. 

accounts, the son of Jupiter and Electra, and enjoyed the favour of Ceres, 
by whom he was the father of Plutus. According to the Scholiast on 
Theocritus, he was the son of Minos, and the Nymph Phronia. According 
to Apollodorus, he was struck dead by the bolts of Jupiter, for offering vio- 
lence to Ceres. He was also said by some to be the husband of Cybele. 
He is supposed to have been a successful husbandman when agriculture 
was but little known ; which circumstance is thought to have given rise 
to the story of his familiarity with Ceres. Ovid repeats this charge 
against the chastity of Ceres, in the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 300. See the 
Note to the passage. 

36 Proportion of their wheat.'] — Ver. 30. "With less corn than had 
been originally sown. 

37 The law-giving Minos.'] — Ver. 41. Minos is said to have been the 
first who gave laws to the Cretans. 



E. XI.] OK, AMOTTBS. 369 

ELEGY XI. 

He tells his mistress that he cannot help loving her. 

Much and long time have I suffered ; by your faults is my 
patience overcome. Depart from my wearied breast, disgrace- 
ful Love. In truth I have now liberated myself, and I have 
burst my chains ; and I am ashamed to have borne what it 
shamed me not to endure. I have conquered ; and Love sub- 
dued I have trodden under foot; late have the horns 38 come 
upon my head. Have patience, and endure, 39 this pain will 
one day avail thee ; often has the bitter potion given refresh- 
ment to the sick. 

And could I then endure, repulsed so oft from thy doors, 
to lay a free-born body upon the hard ground ? 4& And did I 
then, like a slave, keep watch before thy street door, for some 
stranger I know not whom, that you were holding in your em- 
brace ? And did I behold it, when the wearied paramour came 
out of your door, carrying off his jaded and exhausted sides ? 
Still, this is more endurable than the fact that I was beheld 
by him ; 41 may that disgrace be the lot of my foes. 

When have I not kept close fastened to your side as you 
walked, 42 myself your keeper, myself your husband, myself 
your companion ? And, celebrated by me forsooth, did you 
please the public: my passion was the cause of passion, in many. 
Why mention the base perjuries of your perfidious tongue ? 
andwAy the Gods forsworn 43 for my destruction ? Why the silent 

38 Late have the horns.] — Ver. 6. This figure is derived from the 
horns, the weapons of the bull. ' At length I have assumed the weapons 
of defence.' It is rendered in a singular manner in Nisard's Translation, 

Trop tard, helas ! J'ai connu l'outrage fait a mon front.' ' Too late, 
alas ! I have known the outrage done to my forehead.' ! ! ! 

39 Have patience and endure.'] — Ver. 7. He addresses himself, recom- 
mending fortitude as his only cure. 

40 The hard ground.] — Ver. 10. At the door of his mistress ; a prac- 
ce which seems to have been very prevalent with the Roman lovers. 

41 J was beheld by him.]— Yer. 15. As, of course', his rival would only 
augh at him for his folly, and very deservedly. 

42 As you walked.]— Yer. 17. By the use of the word ' spatiantis,' he 
lludes to her walks under the Porticos of Rome, which were much fre- 
quented as places for exercise, sheltered from the heat. 

43 The Gods forsworn.] — Ver. 22. This forms the subject of the 
Third Elegy of the present Book. 

B B 



370 THE AMOEES; [B. T. 

nods of young men at banquets, 44 and words concealed in 
signs arranged beforehand ? She was reported to me to be ill ; 
headlong and distracted I ran ; I arrived ; and, to my rival 
she was not ill. 45 

Bearing these things, and others on which I am silent, I 
have oft endured them ; find another in my stead, who could put 
up with these things. Now my ship, crowned with the votive 
chaplet, listens in safety to the swelling waves of the ocean. 
Cease to lavish your blandishments and the words which once 
availed ; I am not a fool, as once I was. Love on this side, 
Hatred on that, are struggling, and are dragging my tender 
heart in opposite directions ; but Love, I think, still gets the 
better. I will hate, 46 if I can ; if not, reluctantly will I love ; 
the bull loves not his yoke ; still, that which he hates he bears. 

I fly from treachery ; your beauty, as I fly, brings me back ; 
I abhor the failings of your morals ; your person I love. Thus, 
I can neither live without you, nor yet with you ; and I ap- 
pear to be unacquainted with my own wishes. I wish that 
either you were less handsome, or less unprincipled. So 
beauteous a form does not suit morals so bad. Your actions 
excite hatred ; your beauty demands love. Ah wretched me ! 
she is more potent than her frailties. 

pardon me, by the common rites of our bed, by all the 
Gods who so often allow themselves to be deceived by you, 
and by your beauty, equal to a great Divinity with me, and by 
your eyes, which have captivated my own ; whatever you shall 
be, ever shall you be mine ; only do you make choice whether 
you will wish me to wish as well to love you, or whether I am 
to love you by compulsion. I would rather spread my sails 
and use propitious gales ; since, though I should refuse, I shall 
still be forced to love. 

44 Young men at banquets.'] — Ver. 23. See the Fifth Elegy of the 
Second Book of the Amores. 

45 She was not ill.] — Ver. 26. When he arrived, he found his rival in 
her company. 

46 I will hate.] — Ver. 35- This and the next line are considered by 
Hekisms and other Commentators to be spurious. 



XII.] OB, AMOTJES. 371 



ELEGY XII. 

He complains that he has rendered his mistress so celebrated by his 
verses, as to have thereby raised for himself many rivals. 

What day was that, on which, ye birds of no white hue, you 
sent forth your ominous notes, ever sad to me in my loves ? 
Or what star must I consider to be the enemy of my destiny ? 
Or what Deities am I to complain of, as waging war against 
me ? She, who but lately 47 was called my own, whom I com- 
menced alone to love, I fear that with many she must be 
shared by me. 

Am I mistaken ? Or has she gained fame by my poems I 
'Tis so ; by my genius has she been made public. And 
justly ; for why have I made proclamation 48 of her charms ? 
Through my fault has the fair been put up for sale. She 
pleases, and I the procurer ; by my guidance is the lover in- 
troduced ; by my hands has her door been opened. Whe- 
ther verses are of any use, is matter of doubt ; at all events, 
they have injured me ; they have been envious of my happi- 
ness. While Thebes, 49 while Troy, while the exploits of 

47 She who but lately.'] — Ver. 5. Commentators are at a loss to know 
whether he is here referring to Corinna, or to his other mistress, to whom 
he alludes in the Tenth Elegy of the Second Book, when he confesses that 
he is in love with two mistresses. If Corinna was anything more than an 
ideal personage, it is probable that she is not meant here, as he made it a 
point not to discover to the world who was meant under that name ; 
whereas, the mistress here mentioned has been recommended to the notice 
of the Roman youths by his poems. 

48 Made proclamation.'] — Ver. 9. He says that, unconsciously, he has 
been doing the duties of the ' praeco' or ' crier,' in recommending his 
mistress to the public. The ' praeco,' among the Romans, was employed 
in sales by auction, to advertise the time, place, and conditions of sale, 
and very probably to recommend and praise the property offered for sale. 
These officers also did the duty of the auctioneer, so far as calling out the 
biddings, but the property was knocked down by the ' magister auctionum.' 
The "praecones' were also employed to keep silence in the public assemblies, 
to pronounce the votes of the centuries, to summon the plaintiff and de- 
fendant upon trials, to proclaim the victors in the public games, to invite 
the people to attend public funerals, to recite the laws that were enacted, 
and, when goods were lost, to cry them and search for them. The office 
of a ' praeco' was, in the time of Cicero, looked upon as rather disreputable. 

49 Thebes.] — Ver. 15. He speaks of the Theban war, the Trojan war, and 
the exploits of Caesar, as being good subjects for Epic poetry ; but he says 

B B 2 



372 THE AMOEES ; [b. III. 

Caesar existed ; Corinna alone warmed my genius. Would that 
I had meddled with verses against the will of the Muses ; and 
that Phoebus had deserted the work commenced ! And yet, it is 
not the custom to listen to Poets as witnesses ; 50 I would have 
preferred all weight to be wanting to my words. 

Through us, Scylla, who robbed her father of his white 
hair, bears the raging dogs 51 beneath her thigh and loins. 
We have given wings to the feet, serpents to the hair ; the 
victorious descendant of Abas 52 is borne upon the winged steed. 
We, too, have extended Tityus 53 over the vast space, and 
have formed the three mouths for the dog bristling with 
snakes. We have described Enceladus, 54 hurling with his 
thousand arms ; and the heroes captivated by the voice of the 
two-shaped damsels. 55 In the Ithacan bags 56 have we en- 

that he had neglected them, and had wasted his time in singing in praise 
of Corinna. This, however, may be said in reproof of his general habits 
of indolence, and. not as necessarily implying that Corinna is the cause 
of his present complaint. The Roman poet Statius afterwards chose the 
Theban war as his subject. 

50 Poets as witnesses. ,] — Ver. 19. That is, ' to rely implicitly on the 
testimony of poets.' The word ' poetas ' requires a semicolon after it, and 
not a comma. 

51 The raging dogs.] — Ver. 21. He here falls into his usual mistake of 
confounding Scylla, the daughter of Nisus, with Scylla, the Nymph, the 
rival of Circe, in the affections of Glaucus. See the Note to 1. 33 of the 
First Epistle of Sabinus, and the Eighth and Fourteenth Books of the 
Metamorphoses. 

62 Descendant of Abas.] — Ver. 24. In the Fourth Book of the Meta- 
morphoses he relates the rescue of Andromeda from the sea monster, by 
Perseus, the descendant of Abas, and clearly implies that he used the 
services of the winged horse Pegasus on that occasion. It has been sug- 
gested by some Commentators, that he here refers to Bellerophon ; but 
that hero was not a descendant of Abas, and, singularly enough, he is not 
on any occasion mentioned or referred to by Ovid. 

53 Extended Tityus.'] — Ver. 25. Tityus was a giant, the son of Jupiter 
and Elara. Offering violence to Latona, he was pierced by the darts 
of Apollo and hurled to the Infernal Regions, where his liver was doomed 
to feed a vulture, without being consumed. 

54 Enceladus.] — Ver. 27. He was the son of Titan and Terra, and 
joining in the war against the Gods, he was struck by lightning, and 
thrown beneath Mount iEtna. See the Pontic Epistles, Book ii. Ep.ii. 1. 11. 

55 The two-shaped damsels.] — Ver. 28. He evidently alludes to the 
Sirens, with their two shapes, and not to Circe, as some have imagined. 

56 The Ithacan bags.] — Ver. 29. /Eolus gave Ulysses favourable winds 
sewn up in a leather bag, to aid him in his return to Ithaca. See the 
Metamorphoses, Book xiv. 1. 223 



e. in.] ob, amours. 373 

closed the winds of iEolus ; the treacherous Tantalus thirsts 
in the middle of the stream. Of Niobe we have made the 
rock, of the damsel, the she-bear ; the Cecropian 57 bird sings 
of Odrysian Itys. Jupiter transforms himself, either into 
a bird, or into gold ; 58 or, as a bull, with the virgin placed 
upon him, he cleaves the waves. Why mention Proteus, and 
the Theban seed, 59 the teeth 1 Why that there were bulls, which 
vomited flames from their mouths 1 Why, charioteer, that thy 
sisters distil amber tears ? 60 Why that they are now Goddesses 
of the sea, who once were ships ? 61 Why that the light of day 
fled from the hellish banquet 62 of Atreus ? And why that the 
hard stones followed the lyre 63 as it was struck ? 

The fertile license of the Poets ranges over an immense 
space ; and it ties not its words to the accuracy of history. 
So, too, ought my mistress to have been deemed to be falsely 
praised ; now is your credulity a mischief to me. 



ELEGY XIII. 

He describes the Festival of Juno, as celebrated at Falisci, the native 
place of his wife. 

As my wife was born at Falisci, so fruitful in apples, we repaired 

57 The Cecropian bird.'] — Ver. 32. He calls Philomela the daughter of 
Pandion, king of Athens, ' Cecropis ales ;' Ct crops having been the first 
king of Athens. Her story is told in the Sixth Book of the Metamor- 
phoses. 

58 A bird, or into gold.] — Ver. 33. He alludes to the transformation 
of Jupiter into a swan, a shower of gold, and a bull ; in the cases of 
Leda, Danae, and Europa. 

59 The Theban seed.] — Ver. 35. He alludes to the dragon's teeth sown 
by Cadmus. See the Third Book of the Metamorphoses. 

60 Distil amber tears.] — Ver. 37. Reference is made to the transfor- 
mation of the sisters of Phaeton into poplars that distilled amber. See 
the Second Book of the Metamorphoses, 1. 364. 

61 Who once were ships.] — Ver. 38. He alludes to the ships of iEneas, 
which, when set on fire by Turnus, were changed into sea Nymphs. 

62 The hellish banquet.] — Ver. 39. Reference is made to the revenge 
of Atreus, who killed the children of Thyestes, and set them on table be- 
fore their father, on which occasion the Sun is said to have hidden his face. 

63 Stones followed the lyre.] — Ver. 40. Amphion is said to have raised 
the walls of Thebes by the sound of his lyre. 



374 THE AMOEES ; [b. III. 

to the walls that were conquered, Camillus, by thee. 64 The 
priestesses were preparing the chaste festival of Juno, with 
distinguished games, and the heifer of the country. 'Twas 
a great remuneration for my stay, to be acquainted with the 
ceremony ; although a path, difficult from the ascent, leads 
the way thither. There stands a grove, ancient, and shaded 
with numberless trees ; look at it, you must confess that a 
Divinity exists in the spot. An altar receives the prayers, 
and the votive incense of the pious ; an altar made without 
skill, by ancient hands. 

When, from this spot, the pipe has given the signal with 
its usual note, the yearly procession moves along the covered 
paths. 65 Snow-white heifers 66 are led, as the crowd applauds, 
which the Faliscan grass has fed on its own plains ; calves, 
too, not yet threatening with the forehead to inspire fear ; 
and the pig, a smaller victim, from its lowly sty ; the leader 
too, of the flock, with his horns bending back over his hardy 
temples ; the goat alone is odious to the Goddess queen. 
By her betrayal, discovered in the lofty woods, 67 she is said to 
have desisted from the flight she had commenced. Even 
now, by the boys, is she aimed at as a mark ; 68 and she is 
given, as a prize, to the author of her wound. Where the 
Goddess is to come, the youths and bashful girls sweep the 

64 Camillus, by thee.~\ — Ver. 2. Marcus Furius Camillus, the Roman 
general, took the city of Falisci. 

65 The covered paths.'}— Ver. 12. The pipers, or flute players, led the 
procession, while the ground was covered with carpets or tapestry. 

66 Snow-white heifers.'] — Ver. 14. Pliny the Elder, in his Second 
Book, says, ' The river Clitumnus, in the state of Falisci, makes those 
cattle white that drink of its waters.' 

67 In the lofty woods.] — Ver. 20. It is not known to what occasion 
this refers. Juno is stated to have concealed herself on two occasions ; 
once before her marriage, when she fled from the pursuit of Jupiter, who 
assumed the form of a cuckoo, that he might deceive her ; and again, 
when, through fear of the giants, the Gods took refuge in Egypt and 
Libya. Perhaps the former occasion is here referred to. 

68 As a mark.] — Ver. 21. This is similar to the alleged origin of the 
custom of throwing sticks at cocks on Shrove Tuesday. The Saxons being 
about to rise in rebellion against their Norman oppressors, the conspiracy 
is said to have been discovered through the inopportune crowing of a 
cock, in revenge for which the whole race of chanticleers were for cen- 
turies submitted to this cruel punishment. 



E. XIII.] OE, AMOUES. 3/5 

roads before her, with garments 69 as they lie. Their virgin hair 
is adorned with gold and gems ; and the proud mantle conceals 
their feet, bedecked with gold. After the Grecian manner 70 
of their ancestors, clad in white garments, they bear the 
sacred vessels entrusted to them on their heads, placed be- 
neath. The people hold religious silence, 71 at the moment 
when the resplendent procession comes up ; and she herself 
follows after her priestesses. 

Argive is the appearance of the procession ; Agamemnon 
slain, Halesus 72 fled from both his crime and his father's 
wealth. And now, an exile, having wandered over both land 
and sea, he erected lofty walls with prospering hand. He 
taught his own Falisci the rites of Juno. May they be ever 
propitious to myself, may they be ever so to her own people. 



ELEGY XIV. 

He entreats his mistress, if she will not be constant, at least, to conceal 
her intrigues from him. 

Beauteous since you are, I do not forbid your being frail ; 
but let it not be a matter of course, that wretched I should 
know it. Nor does any severity of mine command you to 
be quite correct ; but it only entreats you to try to conceal 
the truth. She is not culpable, whoever can deny that 
she has been culpable ; and 'tis only the confession of error 
that makes a woman disgraced. What madness is it to 
confess in light of day what lies concealed in night ? And 
what you do in secret, to say openly that it is done ? The 

69 With garments. ,] — Ver. 24. As ' vestis ' was a general name for 
a covering of any kind, it may refer to the carpets which appear to be 
mentioned in the twelfth line, or it may mean, that the youths and dam- 
sels threw their own garments in the path of the procession. 

'° After the Grecian manner.] — Ver. 27. Falisci was said to have 
been a Grecian colony. 

71 Hold religious silence.} — Ver. 29. ' Favere Unguis ' seems here to 
mean, 'to keep religious silence :' as to the general meaning of the term, 
see the Fasti, Book i. 1. 71. 

' 2 Halesus.) — Ver. 33. Halesus is said to have been the son of Aga- 
memnon, by a concubine. Alarmed at the tragic death of his father, and 
of the murderers, ^Egisthus and Clytemnestra, he fled to Italy, where he 
founded the city of Phalesus, which title, with the addition of one letter, 
wps given to it after his name. Phalesus afterwards became corrupted, 
to ' Faliscus,' or • Falisci/ 



37 Q THE AMOEES ; [b. III. 

strumpet about to entertain some obscure Roman, first keeps 
out the public by fastening up the bar. And will you make 
known your frailties to malicious report ? And will you make 
proof of your own criminality ? May your mind be more 
sound, or, at least, may you imitate the chaste ; and although 
you are not, let me suppose that you are chaste. What you 
do, still do the same ; only deny that you do so ; and be not 
ashamed in public to speak the language of chastity. There 
is the occasion which demands wantonness ; sate it with every 
delight ; far thence be all modesty. Soon as you take your 
departure thence ; away at once with all lasciviousness, and 
leave your frailties in your chamber — 

Illic nee tunicam tibi sit posuisse rubori, 
Nee femori impositum sustinuisse femur : 

Illic purpureis condatur lingua labellis : 
Inque modos Venerem mille figuret amor ; 

Illic nee voces, nee verba juvantia cessent ; 
Spondaque lasciva mobilitate tremat. 

With your garments put on looks that dread accusation ; and 
let modesty disavow improper pursuits. Deceive the public, 
deceive me, too ; in my ignorance, let me be mistaken, and 
allow me to enjoy my silly credulity. 

Why do I so often espy letters sent and received ? Why one 
side and the other 73 tumbled, of your couch ? Why do I see 
your hair disarranged more than happens in sleep, and your 
neck bearing the marks of teeth ? The failing itself alone you 
do not bring before my eyes ; if you hesitate consulting your 
own reputation, still, spare me. My senses fail me, and I 
am expiring, oft as you confess your failings ; and the drops 
flow, chilled throughout my limbs. Then do I love you ; then, 
in vain, do I hate what I am forced to love ; 73 * then I could 
wish myself to be dead, but together with you. 

No enquiries, for my part, will I make, nor will I try to 
know what you shall attempt to conceal ; and to me it shall 
be the same as a false charge. If, however, you shall be found 
detected in the midst of your guilt, and if criminality shall be 

73 One side and the other.'] — Ver. 32. For the ' torus exterior ' and 
1 interior,' and the construction of the heds of the ancients, see the Note 
to the Eighth Book of the Metamorphoses, 1. 659. 

73* Forced to love.] — Ver. 39. This passage seems to be hopelessly 
corrupt. 



B. XT.] OB, AMOTJES. 377 

beheld by my eyes ; what has been plainly seen, do you deny 
to have been plainly seen ; my own eyes shall give way to 
your assertions, ,r Tis an easy conquest for you to vanquish 
me, who desire to be vanquished. Let your tongue only be 
mindful to say — " I did not do it !" since it is your lot to 
conquer with two words ; 73 * although not by the merit of your 
cause, still conquer through your judge. 



ELEGY XV. 

He tells Venus that he now ceases to write Elegies. 

Seek a new Poet, mother of the tender Loves ; here the ex- 
treme turning-place is grazed 74 by my Elegies, which I, a 
foster-child of the Pelignian fields, have composed ; nor have 
my sportive lays disgraced me. Me, I say, who, if that is aught, 
am the heir to my rank, 75 even through a long line of ances- 
tors, and not lately made a Knight in the hurly-burly of 
warfare. Mantua delights in Virgil, Verona in Catullus ; I 
shall be called the glory of the Pelignian race ; which its own 
liberties summon to glorious arms, 76 when trembling Rome 
dreaded 77 the allied bands. And some stranger will say, as he 
looks on the walls of the watery Sulmo, which occupy but a 
few acres of land, " Small as you are, I will call you great, 
who were able to produce a Poet so great." Beauteous boy, 
and thou, Amathusian parent 78 of the beauteous boy, raise 

73 * Two words.] — Ver. 49. ' Non feci.' ' I did not do it/ 

74 Turning -place is grazed.] — Ver. 2. On rounding the f meta ' in the 
chariot race, from which the present figure is derived, see the Note to the 
69th line of the Second Elegy of this Book. 

75 Heir to my rank.]— Ver. 5. See the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 112, where 
he enlarges upon the rank and circumstances of his family. 

76 To glorious arms.] — Ver. 9. He alludes to the Social war which 
was commenced in the year of the City 659, by the Marsi, the Peligni, 
and the Picentes, for the purpose of obtaining equal rights and privileges 
with the Roman citizens. He calls them ' arma honesta,' because wielded 
in defence of their liberties. 

77 Rome dreaded.] — Ver. 10. The Romans were so alarmed, that they 
vowed to celebrate games in honour of Jupiter, if their arms should prove 
successful. 

78 Amathusian parent.] — Ver. 15. Venus was worshipped especially 
at Amathus, a city of Cyprus ; it is mentioned by Ovid as abounding in 
metals. See the Metamorphoses, Book x. 1. 220 and 531, 



378 THE AMOEES ; OE, AMOTJES. [b. III. 

your golden standard from my fields. The horned 79 Lyaeus 80 
has struck me with a thyrsus more potent ; with mighty steeds 
must a more extended plain be paced. Unwarlike Elegies, 
my sportive 81 Muse, farewell ; a work destined to survive long 
after I am dead and gone. 

79 The horned.'] — Ver. 17. In addition to the reasons already men- 
tioned for Bacchus being represented as horned, it is said by some, that 
it arose from the fact, of wine being drunk from horns in the early 
ages. It has been suggested, that it had a figurative meaning, and im- 
plied the violence of those who are overtaken with wine. 

80 Lyceus.] — Ver. 17. For the meaning of the word Lyaeus, see the 
Metamorphoses, Book iv. 1. 11, and the Note to the passage. 

31 My sportive.] — Ver. 19. Genialis ; the Genii were the Deities of 
pure, unadorned nature. See the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 58, and the Note to 
the passage. ' Genialis,' consequently means, ' voluptuous,' or ' pleasing 
to the impulses of nature.' 



ARS AMATORIA; 

OR, THE ART Of LOVE 



BOOK THE FIKST. 



Shotjld any one of the people not know the art of loving, let 
him read me ; and taught by me, on reading my lines, let him 
love. By art the ships are onward sped by sails and oars ; by 
art are the light chariots, by art is Love, to be guided. In the 
chariot and in the flowing reins was Automedon skilled : in the 
Hsemonian ship of Jason Tiphys was the pilot. Me, too, skilled 
in my craft, has Venus made the guardian of Love. Of Cupid 
the Tiphys and the Automedon shall I be styled. Unruly indeed 
he is, and one who oft rebels against me ; but he is a child ; his 
age is tender and easy to be governed. The son of Phillyra 
made the boy Achilles skilled at the lyre ; and with his sooth- 
ing art he subdued his ferocious disposition. He who so oft 
alarmed his own companions, so oft the foe, is believed to have 
stood in dread of an aged man full of years. Those hands 
which Hector was doomed to feel, at the request of his master 
he held out for stripes 1 as commanded. Chiron was the pre- 
ceptor of the grandson of ZEacus, I of Love. Both of the 
boys were wild ; both of a Goddess born. But yet the neck 
of even the bull is laden with the plough ; and the reins are 
champed by the teeth of the spirited steed. To me, too, will 
Love yield ; though, with his bow, he should wound my 
breast, and should brandishhis torches hurled against me. The 
more that Love has pierced me, the more has he relentlessly 
inflamed me ; so much the fitter avenger shall I be of the 
wounds so made. 

Phoebus, I pretend not that these arts were bestowed on me 

1 For stripes."] — Ver. 16. Statins, in the Thebaid, mentions the strict, 
ness of the discipline of Chiron. See the Amores, Book i. El. xiii. 1. 18. 



380 ABS AMATOBIA ; [ B . i. 25—56. 

by thee; nor by the notes of the birds of the air am I inspired. 
Neither Clio nor the sisters of Clio have been beheld by me, 
while watching, Ascra, in thy vales, my flocks. To this work 
experience gives rise ; listen to a Poet well-versed. The 
truth will I sing ; Mother of Love, favour my design. Be ye 
afar, 2 ye with the thin fillets on your hair, the mark of chastity ; 
and thou, long flounce, which dost conceal the middle of the 
foot. We will sing of guiltless delights, and of thefts allowed ; 
and in my song there shall be nought that is criminal. 

In the first place, endeavour to find out an object which 
you may desire to love, you who are now coming for the first 
time to engage as a soldier in a new service. The next task 
after that, is to prevail on the fair by pleasing her. The 
third is, for her love to prove of long duration. This is my 
plan ; this space shall be marked out by my chariot ; this the 
turning-place to be grazed by my wheels in their full career. 

While you may, and while you are able to proceed with flow- 
ing reins ; choose one to whom you may say, " You alone are 
pleasing to me." She will not come to you gliding through 
the yielding air ; the fair one that suits must be sought with 
your eyes. The hunter knows full well where to extend the 
toils for the deer ; full well he knows in what vale dwells the 
boar gnashing with his teeth. The shrubberies are known to 
the fowlers. He who holds out the hooks, knows what waters 
are swam in by many a fish. You, too, who seek a subject for 
enduring love, first learn in what spot the fair are to be met 
with. In your search, I will not bid you give your sails to the 
wind, nor is a long path to be trodden by you, that you may 
find her. 

Let Perseus bear away his Andromeda from the tawny In- 
dians, 3 and let the Grecian fair be ravished by Paris, the Phry- 
gian hero. Rome will, present you damsels as many, and full as 
fair; so that you will declare, that whatever has been on the 

2 Be ye afar.'] — Ver. 31. He quotes this and the following line in the 
Tristia, Book ii. 1. 248, to show that it was not his intention, by his pre- 
cepts, to inculcate breaches of chastity among the Roman matrons. See 
the Note to the passage, and to the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 30. The ' vitta,' or 
1 fillet,' was worn solely by women of pure character. 

3 The tawny Indians.] — Ver. 53. Herodotus considers the ^Ethiopians 
to be Indians. According to some, the father of Andromeda was king of 
-Ethiopia ; but she is more frequently represented as a native of Joppa, on 
the coast of Syria. 



B. i. 56—72.] OR, THE AET OP LOVE. 381 

earth, she possesses. As many ears of corn as Gargara has, as 
many clusters as Methymna ; as many fishes as are concealed in 
the seas, birds in the boughs ; as many stars as 4 heaven has, 
so many fair ones does your own Rome contain ; and in her 
own City does the mother of iEneas hold her reign. Are you 
charmed by early and still dawning years, the maiden in 
all her genuineness will come before your eyes ; or do you 
wish a riper fair, 5 a thousand riper will please you ; you 
will be forced not to know which is your own choice. Or 
does an age mature and more staid delight you ; this throng 
too, believe me, will be even greater. 

Do you only saunter at your leisure in the shade of Pom- 
pey's Portico* when the sun approaches the back of the 
Lion of Hercules ; 7 or where the mother 8 has added her own 
gifts to those of her son, a work rich in its foreign marble. 
And let not the Portico of Livia 9 be shunned by you, which, 
here and there adorned with ancient paintings, bears the name 

4 As many stars as.] — Ver. 59. Heinsius considers this and the next 
line to be spurious. 

5 Wish a riper fair.'] — Ver. 63. ' Juvenis,' applied to a female, would 
mean something more than a mere girl. ' Juventus ' "was that age in 
which a person was in his best years, from about twenty to forty. 

6 Pompey's Portico.'] — Ver. 67. He alludes to the Portico which had 
been erected by Pompey at Rome, and was shaded by plane trees and re- 
freshed by fountains. The Porticos were walks covered with roofs, sup- 
ported by columns. They were sometimes attached to other buildings, 
and sometimes were independent of any other edifice. They were much 
resorted to by those who wished to take exercise without exposure to the 
heat of the sun. The Porticos of the temples were originally intended for 
the resort of persons who took part in the rites performed there. Law- 
suits were sometimes conducted in the Porticos of Rome, and goods were 
sold there. 

7 The lion of Hercules.} — Ver. 68. The Nemean lion ; which formed 
the Constellation Leo in the Zodiac. 

8 Where the mother.] — Ver. 69. He alludes to the Theatre and Portico 
which Augustus built ; the former of which received the name of his ne- 
phew Marcellus, the latter of his sister Octavia, the mother of Marcellus. 
After the death of Marcellus, Octavia added a public library to this Portico 
at her own expense. Here there were valuable paintings of Minerva, 
Philip and Alexander, and Hercules on Mount (Eta. Some suppose that 
the temple of Concord, built by Livia, and mentioned in the Fasti, is here 
referred to. 

9 The Portico of Livia.] — Ver. 72. The Portico of Livia was near the 
street called Suburra. This Portico is also mentioned in the Fasti. We 
learn from Strabo that it was near the Via Sacra, or Sacred Street. 



382 AES AMATOJIIA ; [b. I. 72—83. 

of its founder. Where, too, are the grand-daughters of Be- 
lus, 10 who dared to plot death for their wretched cousins, and 
where their enraged father stands with his drawn sword. Nor 
let Adonis, bewailed by Venus, 11 escape you ; and the seventh 
holy-day observed by the Jew of Syria. 12 Nor fly from the 
Memphian temples of Isis the linen-wearing heifer ; she has 
made many a woman 13 that which she was herself to Jove. Even 
the Courts, (who would have believed it?) are favourable to 
Love ; and oft in the noisy Forum has the flame been found. 
Where the erection 14 of Appius, 15 adjoining the temple of Venus, 
built of marble, beats the air with its shooting stream ; 16 in 

10 Granddaughters of Belus.] — Ver. 73. This was the Portico of the 
Dana'ides, in the temple of Apollo. It is referred to in the Second Elegy 
of the Second Book of the Amores. 

11 Bewailed by Venus.] — Ver. 75. He alludes to the temple of Venus, 
at Rome, which, according to Juvenal, was notorious as the scene of in- 
trigues and disgraceful irregularities. It was a custom of the Romans, 
borrowed from the Assyrians, to lament Adonis in the temple of Venus. 
See the Tenth Book of the Metamorphoses. This worship of the Assyrians 
is mentioned by the Prophet Ezekiel, chap. viii. ver. 13, ' women weeping 
for Thammuz.' 

12 The Jew of Syria."] — Ver. 76. He alludes to the rites performed in 
the Synagogues of the Jews of Rome, on the Sabbath, to which numbers of 
females were attracted, probably by the music. There were great num- 
bers of Jews at Rome in the reign of Augustus, who were allowed to fol- 
low their own worship, according to the law of Moses. The Roman 
females visiting the Synagogues, assignations and gross irregularities be- 
came the consequence. Tiberius withdrew this privilege from the Jews, 
and ordered the priests' vestments and ornaments to be burnt. This line 
is thus rendered in Dryden's version : 

' Nor shun the Jewish walk, where the foul drove, 
On Sabbaths rest from everything but love.' 
This wretched paraphrase is excused by the following very illiberal note, 
' If this version seems to bear a little hard on the ancient Jews, it does not 
at all wrong the modern.' 

13 Many a woman.] — Ver. 78. Io, or Isis, was debauched by Jupiter. 
Martial and Juvenal speak of the irregularities practised on these occasions. 

14 Where the erection.] — Ver. 81. He refers to the Forum of Caesar 
and the temple of Venus, which was built by Julius Caesar after the battle 
of Pharsalia. 

15 Of Appius.]— Ver. 82. He alludes to the aqueduct which had been 
constructed by the Censor Appius. This passed into the City, through 
the Latin gate, and discharged itself near the spot where the temple of 
Venus was built. 

13 Shooting stream.] — "Ver. 82; He alludes to the violence with which 
the water was discharged by the pipes of the aqueduct into the reservoir. 



B. i. 83—111.] OE, THE AET OF LOYE. 383 

that spot full oft is the pleader seized by Love ; and he that 
has defended others, the same does not defend himself. Oft 
in that spot are their words found wanting to the eloquent man ; 
and new cares arise, and his own cause has to be pleaded. From 
her temple, which is adjoining, 17 Venus laughs at him. He 
who so lately was a patron, now wishes to become a client. 

But especially at the curving Theatres do you hunt for prey : 
these places are even yet more fruitful for your desires. There 
you will find what you may love, what you may trifle with, both 
what you may once touch, and what you may wish to keep. 
As the numberless ants come and go in lengthened train, when 
they are carrying their wonted food in the mouth that bears 
the grains ; or as the bees, when they have found both their 
own pastures and the balmy meads, hover around the flowers 
and the tops of the thyme ; so rush the best-dressed women 
to the thronged spectacles ; a multitude that oft has kept my 
judgment in suspense. They come to see, they come that they 
themselves may be seen ; to modest chastity these spots are 
detrimental. 

Romulus, 'twas thou didst first institute the exciting games; 
at the time when the ravished Sabine fair 18 came to the aid of the 
solitary men. Then, neither did curtains 19 hang over the mar- 
ble theatre, 20 nor was the stage 21 blushing with liquid saffron. 
There, the branches were simply arranged which the woody 
Palatium bore ; the scene was void of art. On the steps made 
of turf sit the people; the branches promiscuously overshadow- 
ing their shaggy locks. They look about them, and they mark 
with their eyes, each for himself, the damsel which to choose ; 
and in their silent minds they devise full many a plan. And 

17 Which is adjoining.'] — Ver. 87. The temple of Venus was near the 
Forum. 

18 Ravished Sabine fair.]— Vex. 102. See the Fasti, Book iii. I. 199. 

19 Neither did curtains.] — Ver. 103. The 4 vela,' here referred to, may 
mean either the ' siparia,' or curtains of the theatres, or the awnings 
which were hung over them. See the Note on the ' siparia' of the theatres, 
referred to in the Third Book of the Metamorphoses, 1. 111. The ' vela- 
ria,' or ' awnings,' were stretched over the whole space of the theatres, to 
protect the spectators from the sun and rain. 

20 Marble theatre.] — Ver. 103. The Theatres of Pompey and Scaurus 
were of marhle. 

21 Nor was the stage.]— Ver. 104. The ' pulpita' was that part of the 
stage where the actors stood who spoke. It was elevated above the or- 
chestra, where the Chorus, and dancers and musicians were placed. 



384 AES AMATOEIA; [b. I. 111—145. 

while, as the Etrurian piper sends forth his harsh notes, the 
actor with his foot thrice heats the levelled ground ; in the midst 
of the applause, (in those days applause was void of guile,) the 
King gives to his people the signal to be awaited for the spoil. 
At once, they start up, and, disclosing their intentions with a 
shout, lay their greedy hands upon the maidens. 22 As the 
doves, a startled throng, fly from the eagles, and as the young 
lamb flies from the wolves when seen ; in such manner do 
they dread the men indiscriminately rushing on ; the com- 
plexion remains in none, which existed there before. For 
their fear is the same ; the symptoms of their fear not the 
same. Some tear their hair; some sit without conscious- 
ness ; one is silent in her grief ; another vainly calls upon her 
mother ; this one laments ; this one is astounded ; this one 
tarries ; that one takes to flight. The ravished fair ones are 
carried off, a matrimonial spoil ; and shame itself may have 
been becoming to many a one. If one struggled excessively, 
and repelled her companion ; borne off, the man himself 
lifted her into his eager bosom. And thus he spoke : " Why 
spoil your charming eyes with tears ? What to your mother 
your father was, the same will I be to you." Romulus, 'twas 
thou alone didst understand how to give rewards to thy sol- 
diers. Give such a reward to me, and I will be a soldier. In 
good truth, from that transaction, the festive Theatres, even 
to this day, continue to be treacherous to the handsome. 

And let not the contest of the noble steeds escape you ; the 
roomy Circus of the people has many advantages. There is 
no need there of fingers, with which to talk over your se- 
crets ; nor must a hint be taken by you through nods. Be 
seated next to your mistress, there being no one to prevent it ; 
press your side to her side as close as ever you can ; and 
conveniently enough, because the partition 23 compels you to sit 
close, even if she be unwilling ; and because, by the custom of 
the place, the fair one must be touched by you. Here let the 
occasion be sought by you for some friendly chat, and let the 
usual subjects 24 lead to the first words. Take care, and enquire, 

22 Upon the maidens."] — Ver. 116. Some writers say that only thirty 
women were carried off. Valerius Antius made the number 427, and 
Plutarch mentions a statement that it was 600. 

23 The partition.]— Ver. 141. See the Amores, Book iii. El. ii. 1. 19. 

24 Let the usual subjects.] — Ver. 144. ' Publica verba ' means the 
' compliments of the day,' and the ' topics suited to the occasion.' 



B. i. 145—167.] OR, THE AET OF LOYE. 335 

with an air of anxiety, whose horses those are, coming ; and 
without delay, whoever it is to whom she wishes well, to him 
do you also wish well. But when the thronged procession shall 
walk with the holy statues of ivory, 25 do you applaud your 
mistress Venus with zealous hand. And, as often happens, if 
perchance a little dust should fall on the bosom of the fair, it 
must be brushed off with your fingers ; 26 and if there should be 
no dust, still brush off that none ; let any excuse be a prelude 
to your attentions. If her mantle, hanging too low, shall be 
trailing on the earth, gather it up, and carefully raise it from 
the dirty ground. 27 At once, as the reward of your attention, 
the fair permitting it, her ancles will chance to be seen by your 
eyes. Look, too, behind, who shall be sitting behind you, that 
he may not press her tender back with his knee against it. 23 
Trifles attract trifling minds. It has proved to the advantage of 
many a one, to make a cushion with his ready hand. 29 It has 
been of use, too, to waft a breeze with the graceful fan, and to 
place the hollow footstool beneath her delicate feet. Both the 
Circus, and the sand spread for its sad duties 30 in the bustling 
Forum, will afford these overtures to a dawning passion. On 
that sand, oft has the son of Venus fought ; and he who has 
come to be a spectator of wounds, himself receives a wound. 31 
While he is talking, and is touching her hand, and is 

25 Statues of ivory. ,] — Ver, 149. For an account of this procession, see 
the Amores, Book iii. El. ii. 1. 43. 

26 Your fingers.]-— Ver. 150. See 1. 42, of the same Elegy. 

27 Dirty ground.] — Ver. 154. See 1. 26, of the same Elegy. 

28 Knee against it.] — Ver. 158. See 1. 24, of the same Elegy. 

29 With his ready hand.] — Ver. 160. As the seats of the Circus were 
hard, the women often made use of a cushion to sit upon. Those who 
were not so fortunate as to get a front seat, and so rest their feet in the 
railings opposite (see the Second Elegy of the Third Book of the Amores, 
1. 64, and the Note), used a footstool, 'scamnum,' (which is mentioned 
here in the 162nd line,) on which they rested their feet. 

30 Its sad duties.] — Ver. 164. Juvenal tells us that gladiatorial spec- 
tacles were sometimes exhibited in the Forum. 

31 Himself receives a wound.] — Ver. 166. The word 'habet,' here 
used, is borrowed from the usage at the gladiatorial games. When a 
gladiator was wounded, the people called aloud ' habet,' or ' hoc habet ;' 
and the one who was vanquished lowered his arms, in token of submission. 
If the people chose that he should be saved, they pressed down their 
thumbs ; but they turned them up, if they desired that he should be killei. 

C C 



386 A.BS AMATOEIA; [b. i. 167— 181. 

asking for the racing list ; 32 and, having deposited the stake, 33 is 
enquiring which has conquered, wounded, he sighs, and feels 
the flying dart, and, himself, becomes a portion of the spec- 
tacle so viewed. 

Besides ; when, of late, 34 Csesar, on the representation of a 
rival fight, introduced 35 the Persian and Athenian ships ; in 
truth, from both seas came youths, from both came the fair 
and in the City was the whole of the great world. Who, in that 
throng, did not find an object for him to love ? How many, 
alas ! did a foreign flame torment ? See ! Csesar prepares 36 
to add what was wanting to the world subdued ; now, re- 
mote East, our own shalt thou be ! Parthian, thou shalt 
give satisfaction ; entombed Crassi, rejoice; 37 ye standards, too, 
that disgracefully submitted to barbarian hands. Your 
avenger is at hand, and proves himself a general in his earliest 

32 Asking for the racing list.]— Vex. 167. The ' libellus,' here men- 
tioned, was the list of the horses, with their names and colours, and those 
of the drivers. It served the same purpose as the race-cards on our 
courses. 

33 Having deposited the stake.'] — Ver 168. When a bet was made, 
the parties betting gave to each other a pledge, ' pignus,' in the shape of 
some trinket, such as a ring. "When the bet was completed, they touched 
hands. 

34 When of late, ,] — Ver. 171. He speaks of a 'Naumachia,' or mimic 
sea-fight, which had been lately exhibited at Rome by Augustus, in com- 
memoration of the battle of Actium. As Antony had collected his forces 
from the East and all parts of Greece, his ships are alluded to as the Persian 
and Cecropian, or Athenian ships. The term, ' Naumachia,' was applied 
both to the representation of a sea-fight, and to the place where it was given. 
They were sometimes exhibited in the Circus or Amphitheatre, the water 
being introduced under-ground, but more generally in spots constructed 
for the purpose. The first was shown by Julius Csesar, who caused a lake 
to be dug for the purpose in a part of the Campus Martius, which Sueto- 
nius calls ' the lesser Codeta.' This was filled up by Augustus, who dug a 
lake near the Tiber for the same purpose ; to which, probably, reference 
is here made. 

35 Introduced.'] — Ver. 172. ' Induxit.' By the use of this word, it, 
would seem that Augustus Caesar introduced the ships, probably, from the | 
river Tiber into the lake. 

36 See! Ccesar prepares.] — Ver. 177. Augustus sent his grandson, Caius, 
the son of his daughter Julia and Agrippa, to head an expedition against J 
Phra'ates, the king of the Parthians, the conquerors of Crassus ; from| 
this expedition he did not live to return, but perished in battle. 

37 Crassi, rejoice.] — Ver. 180. See the Fasti, Book v. 1. 583-8, with] 
the Note to the passage. Also Book vi. 1. 465. 






b. i. 181 — 209.] OR, THE AET OE LOVE. 387 

arms ; and, while a boy, is conducting a war not fitted to be 
waged by a boy. Cease, in your fears, to count the birth-days 
of the Gods: bS valour is the lot of the Caesars, in advance of their 
years. The divine genius rises more rapidly than its years, 
and brooks not the evils of slow delay. The Tirynthian 
hero was a baby, and he crushed two serpents in his hands ; 
even in his cradle he was already worthy of Jove. Bacchus, 
who even now art a boy, how mighty wast thou then, when 
conquered India dreaded thy thyrsi S With the auspices and 
the courage of thy sire, thou, Youth, shalt wield arms ; and 
with the courage and the auspices of thy sire shalt thou con- 
quer. Such first lessons are thy due, under a name so great ; 
now the first of the youths, 39 at a future day to be the first of the 
men. Since thou hast brothers, 40 avenge thy brethren slain ; 
and since thou hast a sire, 41 vindicate the rights of thy sire. 
He, the father of thy country and thine own, hath put thee in 
arms ; the enemy is tearing realms away from thy reluctant 
sire. Thou wilt wield the weapons of duty, the foe arrows 
accursed ; before thy standard, Justice and Duty will take 
their post. By the badness of their cause, the Parthians are 
conquered ; in arms, too, may they be overcome ; may my 
hero add to Latium the wealth of the East. Both thou, father 
Mars, and thou, father Caesar, grant your divine favour as he 
sets out ; for the one of you is now a Deity, thou, the other, 
wilt so be. 

Lo ! I utter a prophecy ; thou wilt conquer, and I shall 
offer the lines which I have vowed ; and with a loud voice 
wilt thou have to be celebrated by me. Thou wilt there be 
taking thy stand, and in my words thou wilt be animating 
thy troops. that my words may not prove unworthy of thy 
spirit ! I will celebrate both the backs of the Parthians as 
they fly, and the valour of the Romans, and the darts which 

33 Of the Gods.'] — Ver. 183. In a spirit of adulation, he deifies Cains 
Ca:sar, and his brother Lucius. 

39 First of the youths.] — Ver. 194. The ' princeps juvenum ' had the 
honour of riding first, in the review of the Equestrian ranks by the Em- 
peror. See the Tristia. Book ii. 1. 90. Caius did not live to "fulfil this 
prophecy, as he was slain through the perfidy of the Parthian general. 

40 Since thou hast brothers.] — Ver. 195. He alludes, probably, to 
Lucius Caesar, the other grandson of Augustus, and Marcus Agrippa, the 
husband of Julia, the daughter of Augustus. 

11 Hast a sire.] —Ver. 196. He had been adopted bv Augustus. 

' c c 2 



388 AES AilATOEIA ; [u. i. 209—237. 

the foeman hurls from his flying steed. What, Parthian, 
dost thou leave to the conquered, who dost fly that thou 
mayst overcome ? Parthian, even now has thy mode of warfare 
an unhappy omen. And will that day then come, on which 
thou, the most graceful of all objects, glittering with gold, 
shalt go, drawn by the four snow-white steeds ? Before thee 
shall walk the chiefs, their necks laden with chains ; that they 
may no longer, as formerly, be secure in flight. The joyous 
youths, and the mingled fair, shall be looking on ; and that day 
shall gladden the minds of all. And when some one of the 
fair shall enquire the names of the Monarchs, what places, 
what mountains, or what rivers are borne 41 in the procession ; 
answer to it all ; and not only if she shall make any inquiry ; 
even what you know not, relate, as though known perfectly 
well. 41 * 

This is the Euphrates, 42 with his forehead encircled with 
reeds ; the one whose 43 azure hair is streaming down, will be 
the Tigris. Make these to be the Armenians ; this is Persia, 
sprung from Danae ; 44 that was a city in the vales of Achse- 
menes. This one or that will be the leaders ; and there will 
be names for you to call them by ; correctly, if you can ; if 
not, still by such as suggest themselves. 

Banquets, too, with the tables arranged, afford an introduc- 
tion; there is something there besides wine for you to look for. 
Full oft does blushing Cupid, with his delicate arms, press the 
soothed horns of Bacchus there present. And when the wine 
has besprinkled the soaking wings of Cupid, there he re- 
mains and stands overpowered on the spot of his capture. 
He, indeed, quickly flaps his moistened wings ; but still it is 
fatal 45 for the breast to be sprinkled by Love. Wine composes 

41 What rivers are borne. ~\ — Ver. 220. See the twentieth line of the 
Second Elegy, Book iv. of the Tristia. 

4i* Perfectly well.]—\ex. 222. See a similar passage in the Tristia* 
Book iv. El. ii. 1. 24. 

42 The Euphrates.'] — Ver. 223. The rivers were generally personified 
by the ancients as being crowned with reeds. 

' 43 The one whose.] — Ver. 224. The young man is supposed to be ad- 
dressing the damsel in these words. 

44 From Danae.] — Ver. 225. He means, that Persia was so called from 
Perses, the son of Andromeda, by Perseus, the son of Danae. It is more 
generally thought to have been so called from a word signifying ' a horse.' 
Achagmenes was one of the ancient kings of Persia. 

45 Stillit is fatal.]— Ver. 236. ' Solet,' « is wont,' is certainly a pre- 
ferable reading here to ' nocet.' 



B. I. 237—264,] OR, THE A.UT OF LOVE. 3S9 

the feelings, and makes them ready to be inflamed ; care ilies, 
and is drenched with plenteous wine. Then come smiles ; 
then the poor man resumes his confidence ; then grief and 
cares and the wrinkles of the forehead depart. Then candour, 
most uncommon in our age, reveals the feelings, the God ex- 
pelling all guile. On such occasions, full oft have the fair 
captivated the hearts of the youths ; and Venus amid wine, has 
proved flames in flame. Here do not you trust too much to the 
deceiving lamp; 46 both night and wine are unsuited to a judg- 
ment upon beauty. In daylight, and under a clear sky, did 
Paris view the Goddesses, when he said to Venus : " Thou, 
Venus, dost excel them both." By night, blemishes are con- 
cealed, and pardon is granted to every imperfection ; and that 
hour renders every woman beauteous. Consult the daylight 
about jewels, about wool steeped in purple ; consult the day- 
light about the figure and the proportion. 

Why enumerate the resorts of fair ones suited for your 
search ? The sands would yield to my number. Why 
mention Baise, 47 and the shores covered with sails, and the 
waters which send forth the smoke from the warm sulphur ? 
Many a one carrying thence a wound in his breast, has ex- 
claimed ; " This water was not so wholesome as it was said 
to be." See, too, the temple in the grove of suburban Diana, 
and the realms acquired with the sword by hostile hand. 48 
Because she is a virgin, because she hates the darts of Cupid, 
she has given many a wound to the public, and will give many 
still. 

Thus far, Thalia borne upon unequal wheels, 49 teaches where 

46 Deceiving lamp.'] — Ver. 245. This is as much as to remind him of 
the adage that women and linen look best by candle-light. 

*7 JVhy mention Baia.} — Ver. 255. Baise was a town on the sea-shore, 
near Naples, famous for its hot baths. It was delightfully situate, and 
here Pompey, Caesar, and many of the wealthy Romans, had country seats. 
Seneca and Propertius refer to it as famous for its debaucheries, and it 
was much frequented by persons of loose character. It was the custom 
at Baiae, in the summer-time, for both sexes to cruise about the shore 
in boats of various colours, both in the day-time and at night, with 
sumptuous feasts and bands of music on board. 

48 Hostile hand.]— Ver. 260. See the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 263. He means 
that the Arician grove was much resorted to by those engaged in courtship 
and intrigues. 

49 Borne upon unequal wheels.] — Ver. 264. He alludes to Thalia, the 
Muse who inspires him, preferring the unequal or Hexameter and Penta- 
meter measure of Elegiac verse. 



390 ARS AMATOEIA ; [ B . i. 264—298. 

to choose an object for you to love, where to lay your nets. 
Now, I attempt to teach you, by what arts she must be captured 
who has pleased you, a work of especial skill. Ye men, 
whoever you are, and in every spot, give attention eager to 
be informed ; and give, all people, a favourable ear to the 
realization of my promises. First of all, let a confidence 
enter your mind, that all women may be won ; you will win 
them ; do you only lay your toils. Sooner would the birds be 
silent in spring, the grasshoppers in summer, sooner would 
the Msenalian dog turn its back upon the hare, than the fair, 
attentively courted, would resist the youth. She, however, 
will wish you to believe, so far as you can, that she is re- 
luctant. 

As stealthy courtship is pleasing to the man, so, too, is it to 
the fair. The man but unsuccessfully conceals his passion ; 
with more concealment does she desire. Were it agreed 
among the males not to be the first to entreat any female, 
the conquered fair would soon act the part of the suppliant. 
In the balmymeads,the female lows after the bull ; the female 
is always neighing after the horny-hoofed horse. Passion in 
us is more enduring, and not so violent; among men the flame 
has reasonable bounds. Why mention Byblis, who burned 
with a forbidden passion for her brother, and who resolutely 
atoned with the halter for her crimes ? Myrrha loved her 
father, but not as a daughter ought; and she now lies hid, 
overwhelmed by the bark 50 that grew over her. With her 
tears too, which she distils from the odoriferous tree, are we 
perfumed ; and the drops still retain the name of their mistress. 

By chance, in the shady vales of the woody Ida, there was 
a white bull, the glory of the herd, marked with a little black 
in the middle between his horns ; there was but one spot ; 
the rest was of the complexion of milk. The heifers of Gnossus 
and of Cydon 51 sighed to mate with him. Pasiphae delighted 
to become the paramour of the bull; in her jealousy she 
hated the beauteous cows. I sing of facts well known : Crete, 
which contains its hundred cities, untruthful as it is, 52 cannot 

50 By the lark.] — Ver. 286. See the Metamorphoses, Book x. 

51 Of Cydon.']— Ver. 293. This was a city of Crete. 

53 Untruthful as it is.] — Ver. 298. The Cretans were universally 
noted in ancient times for their disregard for truth. St. Paul, in his Epistle 
to Titus, ch. i. ver, 12, says, quoting from the Cretan poet Epimenides: 



B. I. 298— 330.] OB, THE AET OF LOVE. 391 

gainsay them. She herself is said to have cut down fresh leaves 
and the tenderest grass with hand unused to such employ- 
ment. She goes as the companion of the herds ; so going, no 
regard for her husband restrains her; and by a bull 53 is Minos 
conquered. " Of what use, Pasiphae, is it to put on those 
costly garments? This love of thine understands nothing 
about wealth. What hast thou to do with a mirror, when ac- 
companying the herds of the mountain ? Why, foolish one, 
art thou so often arranging thy smoothed locks ? Still, do 
thou believe that mirror, that denies that thou art a heifer. 
How much couldst thou wish for horns to spring up upon 
thy forehead ! If Minos still pleases thee, let no paramour be 
sought ; but if thou wouldst rather deceive thy husband, de- 
ceive him through a being that is human." 

Her chamber abandoned, the queen is borne over the groves 
and the forests, just as a Bacchanal impelled by the Aonian 
God. Alas ! how oft with jealous look does she eye a cow, 
and say, "Why is she thus pleasing to my love ? See how she 
skips before him on the tender grass ! I make no doubt 
that the fool thinks that it is becoming to her." Thus she 
spoke, and at once ordered her to be withdrawn from the vast 
herd, and, in her innocence, to be dragged beneath the bend- 
ing yoke ; or else she forced her to fall before the altars, and 
rites feigned for the purpose ; and, with joyous hand, she 
held the entrails of her rival. How often did she propitiate 
the Deities with her slain rivals, and say, as she held the en- 
trails, " Now go and charm my love /" And sometimes she 
begged that she might become Europa, sometimes Io ; be- 
cause the one was a cow, the other borne upon a bull. Still, 
deceived by a cow made of maple-wood, the leader of the herd 
impregnated her; and by the offspring was the sire 54 betrayed. 

If the Cretan dame 55 had withheld from love for Thyestes 
(alas ! how hard it is for a woman possibly to be pleasing to 
one man only!) Phoebus would not have interrupted his career 

" One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, ' The Cretans 
are alway liars, evil heasts, slow bellies.' This witness is true." 

53 By a bull.'] — Ver. 302. See this story explained in the Translation 
of the Metamorphoses, p. 70. 

54 The sire.]— Ver. 326. This was the Minotaur. See the Metamor- 
phoses, Bookviii. 

55 If the Cretan dame.] — Ver. 327. This was jErope, the wife of 
Atreus, who slew the children of his brother Thyestes, and set them on 
table before their father. 



i 



392 ABS AMATORIA ; [ B . I. 330—353. 

in the midst, and, his chariot turned back, retreated, with his 
returning steeds, to the morn. The daughter, who spoiled 56 Nisus 
of his purple locks, presses beneath her thigh and groin the 
raying dogs. The son of Atreus, who escaped from Mars by- 
land, and Neptune on the waves, was the mournful victim of 
his wife. By whom have not been lamented the flames 67 of the 
Ephyrean Creusa 1 Medea, the parent, too, stained with the 
blood of her children ? Phoenix, the son of Amyntor, 58 wept 
with his blinded eyes ; you, startled steeds, tore Hippolytus in 
pieces. Why, Phineus, dost thou tear out the eyes of thy guilt- 
less sons ? 59 That punishment will revert to thy own head. 

All these things have been caused by the passion of females. 
It is more violent than ours, and has more frenzy in it. Come 
then, and doubt not that you can conquer all the fair : out of 
so many, there will be hardly one to deny you. What they 
yield, and what they refuse, still are they glad to be asked 
for. Even if you are deceived, your repulse is without danger. 
But why should you be deceived, since new pleasures are de- 
lightful, and since what is strange attracts the feelings more 
than what is one's own ? 60 The crop 61 of corn is always more 
fertile in the fields of other people ; and the herds of our 
neighbours have their udders more distended. 

But first, be it your care to make acquaintance with the 
handmaid of the fair one to be courted ; she can render your 
access easy. 62 Take care that she is deep in the secrets of her 

56 Who spoiled.] — Ver. 331. He falls into his usual mistake of con- 
founding Scylla, the daughter of Nisus, with the daughter of Phorcys. 

57 The flames.] — Ver. 335. See the Metamorphoses, Book vii. ]. 391, 
and the Epistle of Medea to Jason. 

58 The son of Amyntor.] — Ver. 337. Phoenix, the son of Amyntor, 
according to Homer, became blind in his latter years. See the Note to 
the 307th line of the Eighth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

59 Of thy guiltless sons.] — Ver. 339. Phineus was a king of Arcadia, 
or, according to some, of Thrace or Paphlagonia. His wife, Cleopatra, 
being dead or divorced, he married a Scythian, named Harpalice, at whose 
suggestion he put out the eyes of his sons by Cleopatra. He was perse- 
cuted by the Harpies, as a punishment. 

60 What is one's own.] — Ver. 348. ' Suis' seems preferable here to 
' suos.' 

61 The crop.] — Ver. 349. These lines are referred to by Juvenal in 
the Fourteenth Satire, 1. 143. 

62 Your access easy.] — Ver. 352. See his address to Nape, in the 
A mores. Book i. El. ii. Cypassis seems to have been a choice specimen 
of this class. See the Amores, Book ii. El. viii. 



B. i. 353—386.] OR, THE ART OP LOVE. 393 

mistress, and not too little entrusted with her secret frolics. 
Her do you bribe with promises, her with entreaties ; you 
will obtain what you ask with little trouble, if she shall be 
willing. Let her choose the time (physicians, even, watch 
their time) when the feelings of her mistress are pliant, and 
easy to be influenced. Then will her feelings be easily in- 
fluenced, when, in the best humour in the world, she shall 
be smiling, just as the corn on the rich soil. While hearts are 
joyous, and not closed by sadness, then are they assailable ; 
then with soothing arts does Venus steal on apace. At the 
time when Troy was in sorrow, she was defended by arms ; 
when joyous, she admitted the horse pregnant with its soldiers. 
Then, too, must she be assailed, when she shall be fretting 
on being offended by a rival ; then effect it by your means 
that she go net unrevenged. Let her handmaid, as she combs 
her hair in the morning, urge her on ; and to the sail let her 
add the resources of the oar. And, sighing to herself, let her 
say, in gentle murmurs : " In my idea, you yourself can- 
not pay him in return." 63 Then let her talk about you ; then 
let her add persuasive expressions; and let her swear that you 
are perishing with frantic passion. But speed on, let not the 
sails fall, and the breezes lull : like brittle ice, anger dis- 
appears in lapse of time. 

You inquire if it is of use 64 to win the handmaid her- 
self? In such attempts there is a great risk. This one be- 
comes more zealous after an intrigue ; that one more tardy ; 
the one procures you as a gift for her mistress, the other for 
her own self. The result is doubtful ; although she should 
favour your advances, still it is my advice, to refrain from so 
doing. I shall not go over headlong tracks, and over sharp 
crags ; and, under my guidance, no youth shall be deceived. 
Even if she pleases you, while she gives and receives the letters, 
by her person, and not only by her zealousness alone ; take 
care and gain her mistress first ; let the other follow as her 
companion ; your courtship must not be commenced with a 

63 Pay him in return.'] — Ver. 370. This seems to mean, ' I do not 
think you can make sufficient return for his ardent affection,' referring to 
the lover. Some of the Commentators think that it signifies a hint from 
the servant, that as her mistress's husband has offended her by his infi- 
delities, she ought to repay him in his own coin. 

64 Is of use.] — Ver. 375. This abominable notion seems to have been 
acted upon by the Poet himself, See the Amores, Book ii. El. viii. 



394 ARS AHATOEIA ; [b. i. 386 — 413. 

servant-maid. This one thing I advise you (if you only put 
some trust in my skill, and if the boisterous wind does not bear 
my words over the seas) : either do not attempt, or else do you 
persist ; the informer is removed, when once she herself has 
shared in the criminality. The bird does not easily escape 
when its wings are bird-limed ; the boar does not readily get 
away from the loose nets : the wounded fish can be held by 
the hook it has seized. Once tried, press her hard, and do 
not retreat, but as the conqueror. Then, guilty of a fault that 
is common to you both, she will not betray you ; and the 
sayings and doings of her mistress will be well known to you. 
But let this be well concealed ; if your informant shall be 
well concealed, your mistress will ever be under your eye. 

He is mistaken who supposes that time is the object of those 
only who till the fields, and is to be observed by mariners alone. 
Neither must the corn be always trusted to the treacherous 
soil ; nor the hollow ships at all times to the green waves ; nor 
is it safe to be ever angling for the charming fair. The same 
thing may often be better done when an opportunity offers. 
Whether it is her birthday 65 that comes, or whether the 
Calends, 66 which Venus delights to have as the successor of the 
month of Mars ; or whether the Circus shall be adorned, not 
with statues, as it was before, but shall be containing the 
wealth of kings 67 exposed to view ; delay your project ; then 
the storm is boisterous, then the Pleiades prevail ; 68 then, 
the tender Kid is sinking in the ocean wave. Then, 'tis 
well to desist ; then, if one trusts the deep, with difficulty 
he grasps the shipwrecked fragments of his dismantled 
bark. You may make a beginning on the day on which tear- 

65 Her birthday. .] — Ver. 405. See the Amores, Book i. El. viii. 1. 94. 

® Whether the Calends.] — Ver. 405. The Matronalia were celebrated 
on the first day of the Calends of March. It was usual on that day, for 
husbands to make presents to their wives, and lovers to the objects of 
their affection. The Calends of March preceded April, which month was 
sacred to Venus. See the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 170. 

6 7 The wealth of kings."} — Ver. 408. It was the custom to bring the 
spoils of the enemy, or the most curious portions of it, to Rome, where it 
was exposed to view in the Circus and the Theatres. Ovid tells his readers 
that they must not think that the ladies can give them any of their leisure 
on such occasions, as, being so much engaged with the sights, they will 
have no time for love-making. 

68 Pleiades prevail.} — Ver. 409. This is said figuratively. 



B. I. 413—431.] OE, THE AKT OF LOVE. 395 

ful Allia 69 was stained with the blood of the Latian wounds ; 
on the day, too, when the festival recurs, observed each 
seventh day by the Syrian of Palestine, a day not suited for 70 
the transaction of business. 

Great must be 71 your dread of the birthday of your mistress, 
and unlucky be that day on which any present must be made. 
Though you should cleverly avoid her, still she will spoil you ; 
a woman finds contrivances, by means of which to plunder 
the riches of the eager lover. The loosely-clad pedlar 72 will 
be coming to your mistress, so fond of buying, and while you 
are by, will be exposing his wares. She will ask you to exa- 
mine them, only that you may appear to be knowing ; then she 
will give you a kiss, and then entreat you to purchase. She will 
swear that she will be content with this for many a year ; she 
will say that now she has need of it, now it may be bought a 
bargain. If you shall make the excuse that you have not the 
money at home to give ; a promissory note 73 will be asked 
for ; it would then profit you not to have learned 74 to write. 
Besides, too ; when she asks for a present, as though for the 
birth-day cake, 75 and is born for her own pleasure as often 
as she pleases. And further ; when, full of tears, she laments 

69 Tearful Allia.']— -Ver 413. The 16th of July, the day on which the 
Romans were defeated by the Gauls at the Allia, was deemed unlucky, 
and no business was transacted on it. 

70 A day not suited for.] — Ver. 415. The Jews are here alluded to. 
and he refers to their Sabbath. How some Commentators can have 
dreamed that the feast of the Saturnalia is referred to, it is hard to say. 

71 Great must be.] — Ver, 417. The meaning is, ' Be careful not to 
make your first advances on the birthday of your mistress, as that is the 
time for making presents, and you will certainly be out of pocket.' See 
the Amores, Book i. El. viii. 1. 94, and the Note. 

72 The loosely -clad pedlar.] — Ver. 421. ' Institor' was properly a per- 
son who sold wares, and kept a ' taberna' or ' shop' on account of another. 
Sometimes free persons, but more frequently slaves, were ' institores.' 

73 A promissory note.] — Ver. 428. ' Syngraphus,' or ' syngrapha,' was 
a ' bill ' 4 bond,' or ' promissory note,' which was most probably the kind of 
writing that the pedlar would here require. It may possibly mean a cheque 
upon his bankers, the ' argentarii' of Rome. 

74 Not to have learned.] — Ver. 428. The reading here seems to be 
1 non didicisse juvat.' ' It is not to your advantage that you have learned 
(to write).' The other reading, ' ne didicisse juvet,' may be rendered, 
4 (perhaps) it may be no advantage that you have learned (to write).' 

75 Birth day cake.] — Ver. 429. See the Amores, Book i. El. viii. 1. 94. 



396 ARS A.MATOEIA ; ' [b. i. 431—462. 

her pretended loss, and the jewel 76 is feigned to have fallen 
from her pierced ear. They ask for many a sum to be lent them ; 
so lent, they have no inclination to return them. You lose the 
whole ; and no thanks are there for your loss. Had I ten 
mouths, with tongues as many, they would not suffice for me 
to recount the abominable contrivances of courtesans. 

Let the wax that is poured upon the polished tablets first 
try the ford ; let the wax first go as the messenger of your 
feelings. Let it carry your compliments ; and whoever you 
are, add expressions that feign you to be in love, and entreaties 
not a few. Achilles, moved with his entreaties, granted Hector 
to Priam ; an angered Divinity is moved by the voice of en- 
treaty. Take care to make promises : for what harm is there in 
promising? Any person whatever can be rich in promises. Hope, 
if she is only once cherished, holds out for a long time ; she 
is, indeed, a deceitful Goddess, but still a convenient one. Should 
you give her 77 anything, you may for that reason be abandoned 
by her : she will bear off the gift by-gone, and will have lost 
nothing in return. But that which you have not given, you 
may always seem as though about to give ; thus has the sterile 
field full oft deceived its owner. So the gambler, in order 
that he may not lose, does not cease to lose ; and the 
alluring dice ever recall the anxious hand. This is the 
task, this the labour ; to gain her without even the first pre- 
sent. What she has once given, she will always give, that she 
may not have granted to no purpose. Let the letter go then, 
and let it be couched in tender expressions ; and let it ascer- 
tain her feelings, and be the first to feel its way. A letter 
borne upon an apple 78 deceived Cydippe ; and by her own 
words the fair was unconsciously caught. 

Youths of Rome, learn, I recommend you, the liberal arts ; 
and not only that you may defend the trembling accused. Both 
the public, and the grave judge, and the silent Senate, as well as 

76 The jewel."] — Ver. 432. For an account of the earrings of the an- 
cients, see the Notes to the Metamorphoses, Book x. 1. 116. 

77 Should you give her.] — Ver. 447. The meaning of this and the fol- 
lowing line is very obscure ; so much so, that Burmann is in doubt on the 
subject. It, however, seems to be, that it is not discreet, on first acquaint- 
ance, to give presents, as the damsel may then have a reason for peremptorily 
giving you up ; she carries off your gift, and gives no favour in return. 

78 Upon an apple.] — Ver. 457. See the twentieth and twenty-first 
Epistles in the present volume. 



B . Im 462—496.] OE, THE AET OP LOYE. 397 

the fair, conquered by your eloquence, shall extend their hands. "* 
But let your power lie concealed : and do not be eloquent at 
the first. Let your letters avoid difficult words. Who, but 
one bereft of sense, would declaim before a charming mis- 
tress 1 Full oft has a letter proved a powerful cause for hatred. 
Let your language be intelligible, and your words the usual 
ones ; but pleasing, so that you may seem to be speaking in 
person. Should she not accept your letter, and send it back 
unread, hope that she will read it, and persist in your design. 
In time the stubborn oxen come beneath the ploughs : in time 
the steeds are taught to submit to the flowing reins : by con- 
tinued use the ring of iron so is consumed : by being in the 
ground continually, the crooked plough is worn out. What is 
there harder than stone ? What more yielding than water ? Yet 
hard stones are hollowed out by yielding water. Only persist, 
and in time you will overcome Penelope herself. You see that 
Pergamus was taken after a long time ; still, it was taken. 

If she reads it, and will not write in answer, do not attemptto 
compel her. Do you only make her to be continually reading 
your flattering lines. What she has been pleased to read, she 
will be pleased to answer when read. All these things will 
come in their turn, and by degrees. Perhaps even, at first, a 
discouraging letter will come to you ; and one that entreats 
you not to wish to molest her. What she entreats you to do, she 
dreads ; what she does not entreat you to do, namely, to persist, 
shewishes you to do. Press on ; and soon you will be the gainer 
of your desires. In the meantime, if she shall be carried 
lying along upon her couch, do you, as though quite by acci- 
dent, approach the litter of your mistress ; and that no cue 
may give a mischievous ear to your words, cunningly conceal 
them so far as you can in doubtful signs. If, with saunter- 
ing foot, the spacious Portico is paced by her ; here, too, do 
you bestow your leisure in her attendance. And sometimes do 
you take care to go before; sometimes follow behind; and some- 
times be in a hurry, and sometimes walk leisurely. And be not 
ashamed to pass from the throng under some of the columns/ 1 

79 Extend their hands.] — Ver. 462. This figure is taken from the gla- 
diatorial games, where the conquered extended their hands in token of 
submission. 

80 Ring of iron.] — Ver. 473. The rings worn by the lower classes were 
of iron. 

Sl Under some of the columns.'] — Yer. 495. The learned Heinsius ab- 



398 AES AMATOKIA ; [b. i. 496—516. 

or to walk with her, side by side. And let her not be seated 
long without you in the curving Theatre ; in her shoulders she 
will bring something for you to be spectator of. Her you may 
gaze upon, her you may admire ; much may you say by your 
brows, much by your gestures. Clap too, when the actor is 
dancing 82 in the part of some damsel ; and whatever lover is 
represented, him applaud. Rise when she rises ; sit as long 
as she is seated ; employ your time at the caprice of your 
mistress. 

But let it not please you to curl your hair with the irons :!* 
and rub not your legs with the rough pumice. 84 Bid those do 
this, 85 in whose Phrygian notes the Cybeleian Mother is cele- 
brated by their yells. A neglect of beauty becomes men. 
Theseus bore off the daughter of Minos, though his temples 
were bedecked by no crisping-pin. Phsedra loved Hippolytus, 86 
and he was not finely trimmed. Adonis, habituated to the wood's, 
was the care of a Goddess. But let neatness please you ; 
let your body be bronzed on the Plain of Mars : 87 let your robe 
be well-fitting, and without a spot. Let your tongue, too, not 
be clammy; 88 your teeth free from yellowness; and let not 

solutely thinks that ' columnas ' here means ' mile-stones ' ! It is pretty 
clear that Ovid alludes to the columns of the Portico ; and he seems 
to say, that the attentive lover, when he sees the damsel at some distance 
before him, is not to hesitate to escape the crowd by going into the open 
space outside of the columns, and then running on, for the purpose of over- 
taking her. See the Tristia, Book hi. El. iii, where he makes mention of 
the columns in the Portico of the Danaides. 

82 Actor is dancing.] — Ver. 501. See the Tristia, Book ii.i. 497. 

83 With the irons.] — Ver. 505. See the Amores, Book i. El. xiv. 1. 25, 
and the Note. The effeminate among the Romans were very fond of 
having their hair in curls. 

84 With the rough pumice.] — Ver. 506. Pliny the Elder mentions 
pumice stone as ' a substance used by women in washing tbeir bodies, and 
now by men as well.' Persius, in his Fourth Satire, inveighs against this 
effeminate practice. 

85 Bid those do this.] — Ver. 507! He alludes to the Galli, the eunuch 
priests of Cybele. 

86 Hippolytus.]— Ver. 511. Phaedra, in her Epistle, alludes to his neg- 
lect of dress, as one of the merits of Hippolytus. 

87 Plain of Mars.] — Ver. 513. The Roman youth practised wrestling, 
and other athletic exercises, on the Campus Martius. Being often stripped 
naked, or nearly so, the oil, combined with the heat, would tend to bronze 
the skin. 

88 Not be clammy.] — Ver. 515. Probably this is the meaning of 'lin- 



B. I. 51G— 541.J OK, THE AET OF LOYE. 399 

your foot wallop about, losing itself in the shoe down at 
heel. Let not the cutting shockingly disfigure your hair bolt 
upright ; let your locks, let your beard be trimmed by a 
skilful hand. Let your nails, too, not be jagged, and let them 
be without dirt ; and let no hairs project from the cavities of 
your nostrils. And let not the breath of your ill-smelling 
mouth, be offensive ; and let not the husband and the father of 
the flock 89 offend the nostrils. The rest, allow the luxurious 
fair to do ; and any man that perchance disgracefully seeks 
to attract another. 

Lo ! Bacchus calls his own Poet : he, too, aids those who 
love ; and he encourages the flame with which he burns him- 
self. The Gnossian fair was wandering distractedly on the un- 
known sands, where little Dia is beaten by the ocean waves. 
And, just as she was on awaking from her sleep, 90 clothed in 
a loose tunic, with bare feet, and having her yellow hair 
loose, she was exclaiming to the deaf waves that Theseus was 
cruel, while the piteous shower of tears was moistening her 
tender cheeks. She exclaimed, and at the same moment she 
wept ; but both became her, nor was she rendered unsightly 
by her tears. And now again beating her most beauteous bosom 
with her hands, she cried — " That perfidious man has gone ; 
what will become of me ?" " What will become of me ?" she 
said ; when cymbals resounded over all the shore, and tam- 
bourines were beaten with frantic hand. She dropped down 
with alarm, and stopped short in her closing words; and no blood 
was there in her lifeless body. See ! the Mimallonian females, 91 

gua ne rigeat,' although Nisard's French translation has it, ' let your tongue 
have no roughness.' Dryden's translation is, of course, of no assistance, as 
it carefully avoids all the difficult passages. 

89 The father of the flock. 1 — Ver. 522. He alludes to the rank smell 
to the arm-pits, which the Romans called hy the name ' hircus,' ' a goat,' 
from a supposed similarity to the strong smell of that animal. 

90 Awaking from her sleep.'] — Ver. 529. See the Epistle of Ariadne to 
Theseus. 

91 Mimallonian females.'] — Ver. 541. It is a matter of douht why 
the Bacchanalian women were called Mimallonides. According to some, 
they are so called from Mimas, a mountain of Asia Minor, where the 
rites of Bacchus were celebrated. Suidas says that they are so called, 
from jwijur/cric, ' imitation,' because they imitated the actions of men. 
Bochart thinks that the word is of Hebrew origin, and that they receive 
their name from ' memelleran,' ' garrulous ' or ' noisy'; or else from 
; mamal,' a ' wine-press.' 



400 AES A.MATOEIA ; [b. I. 541—572. 

with their locks flowing on their backs ; see ! the nimble 
Satyrs, the throng preceding the God ; see ! Silenus, the 
drunken old man, 92 on his bending ass, sits there with diffi- 
culty, and holds fast by the mane that he presses. While 
he follows the Bacchanals, the Bacchanals both fly and 
return : while the unskilful rider is goading on his ani- 
mal with his stick, slipping from the long-eared ass, he 
tumbles upon his head. The Satyrs cry aloud, " Come, rise 
up ; rise, father I" Now, the God, from his chariot, the top of 
which he had wreathed with grapes, loosened the golden 
reins for the tigers yoked to it. Both her complexion, and 
Theseus, and her voice forsook the fair one ; and thrice she 
attempted flight, and thrice was she detained by fear. She 
shuddered, just as the barren ears of corn, which the wind 
shakes ; just as the slender reed quivers in the swampy 
marsh. 

To her the Divinity said, "Lo! I come to thee a more con- 
stant lover ; damsel of Gnossus, lay aside thy fear, the wife of 
Bacchus shalt thou be. Receive heaven as my gift : a con- 
spicuous Constellation in the heavens, full oft, Cretan Diadem, 93 
shalt thou direct the veering bark." Thus he said ; and he leapt 
from the chariot, that she might not be in dread of the tigers; 
the sand yielded to his foot placed upon it. And folding her 
in his bosom he bore her off; for to struggle she was unable : 
how easy 'tis for a God to be able to do anything. Some 
sing " Hymenseus," some cry " Evie, Evoe !" 94 Thus are the 
God and his bride united in holy wedlock. 

Therefore, when the gifts of Bacchus placed before you fall 
to your lot, and the fair one shall be a sharer in the convivial 
couch ; pray both to father Nyctelius, and his nocturnal rites, 
that they will bid the wine not to take effect on your head. 
Here, in secret discourse, you may say to her many a free 
word, which she may understand is addressed to her ; and 
you may trace out short compliments with a little wine, so 

92 Drunken old man.'] — Ver. 543. See the adventure of Silenus, in 
the beginning of Book xi. of the Metamorphoses ; and in the Fasti, 
Book hi. 1. 742. He seems to have been always getting into trouble* 

93 Cretan Diadem .] —Ver. 558. See the Fasti, Book in. 1. 516. 

9 * Evie, EvoeTj—Yer. 563. In the combat with the Giants, Jupiter is 
said, when one of them was slain by Bacchus, to have exclaimed ev vit, 
'Well done, son:' whence the exclamation ' Evie!' was said to have ori- 
ginated. See the Metamorphoses, Book iv. 1, 11 and 15, and the Note. 



B. i. 572—590.] OE, THE AET OF LOYE. 401 

that she may read on the table 95 that she is your favorite ; 
and look on her eyes with eyes that confess your flame ; 
the silent features often have both words and expression. 
Take care to be the next to seize the cup that has been 
touched by her lips ; and drink from the side 96 that the fair 
drinks from. And whatever food she shall have touched 
with her fingers, 97 do you reach for it ; and while you are 
reaching, her hand may be touched by you. Let it also be 
your object to please the husband of the fair ; once made a 
friend, he will be more serviceable for your designs. If you are 
drinking by lot, 98 grant him the first turn : let the chaplet, 
taken from your own head, be presented to him. Whether he 
is below you, or whether your neighbour, let him help himself 
to every thing first ; and do not hesitate to speak only after 
he has spoken. Secure and much frequented is the path, for 
deceiving through the name of friendship. Secure and much fre- 
quented though that path be ; still it is to be condemned. For 
this cause 'tis that the agent attends even too much 99 to his 
agency, and thinks that more things ought to be looked after 
by him than those entrusted to him. 

A sure rule for drinking shall be given you by me : let 

95 On the table.'] — Ver. 572. See the Epistle of Paris to Helen ; and 
the Amores, Book i. El. iv. 1. 20, and Book ii. El. v. 1. 17, and the Notes. 

96 From the side.]— -Ver. 576. See the Amores, Book i. El. iv. 1. 32. 

97 Touched with her fingers.] — Ver. 577. The ancients are supposed 
not to have used at meals any implement such as a knife or fork, hut 
merely to have used the fingers only, except in eating soups or other 
liquids, or jellies, when they employed spoons, which were denoted hy 
the names ' cochlear ' and ' ligula.' At meals the Greeks wiped their 
fingers on pieces of bread ; the Romans washed them with water, and 
dried them on napkins handed round by the slaves. 

98 Are drinking by lot.] — Ver. 581. The ' modimperator,' or ' master 
of the banquet,' was often chosen by lot by the guests, and it was his 
province to prescribe how much each person should drink. Lots were 
also thrown, by means of the dice, to show in what order each person 
was to drink. This passage will show the falsity of his plea in the Second 
Book of the Tristia, addressed to Augustus, where he says that it was 
not his intention to address the married women of Rome, but only 
those who did not wear the * vittae ' and the ' instita,' the badges of 
chastity. 

99 Agent attends even too much.] — Ver. 587. His meaning seems to be, 
that in the same way as the agent does more than attend to the injunctions 
of his principal, andputs himself in a position to profit by his office, so is 
the inamorato, through the confidence of the husband reposed in him, to 
make a profit that has never been anticipated. 



402 AES AMATOEIA ; [b. i. 590—625. 

both your mind and your feet ever observe their duty. Es- 
pecially avoid quarrels stimulated by wine, and hands too ready 
for savage warfare. Eurytion 1 met his death from foolishly 
quaffing the wine set before him. Banquets and wine are 
rather suited for pleasant mirth. If you have a voice, sing ; 
if pliant arms, dance ; and by whatever talent you can amuse, 
amuse. As real drunkenness offends, so feigned inebriety 
will prove of service. Let your deceiving tongue stutter with 
lisping accents ; so that whatever you shall do or say with 
more freedom than usual, it may be supposed that excess of 
wine is the cause. And express all good wishes for your 
mistress ; all good wishes for him who shares her couch ; but 
in your silent thoughts pray for curses on her husband. But 
when, the tables removed, the guests shall be going, (the very 
crowd will afford you access and room) mix in the throng : 
and quietly stealing up 2 to her as she walks, twitch her side 
with your fingers ; and touch her foot with your foot. 

Now is the time come for some conversation : fly afar hence, 
coy bashfulness, let Chance and Yenus befriend the daring. 
Let your eloquence not be subject to any laws of mine ; only 
make a beginning, of your own accord you will prove fluent. 
You must act the lover, and wounds must be feigned in your 
words. Hence let confidence be sought by you, by means of 
any contrivances whatever. And 'tis no hard matter to be 
believed ; each woman seems to herself worthy to be loved. 
Though she be ugly in the extreme, to no one are her own 
looks displeasing. Yet often, he that pretends to love, begins 
in reality : full oft he becomes that which in the beginning he 
feigned to be. For this cause, the rather, ye fair, be pro- 
pitious to those who pretend. That passion will become real, 
which so lately was feigned. 

Now be it your part stealthily to captivate her affection by 
attentions; just as the shelving bank is encroached on by the 
flowing stream. Be not tired of praising either her face or her 
hair ; her taper fingers too, and her small foot. The praise of 
their beauty pleases even the chaste ; their charms are the care 
and the pleasure of even maidens. For, why, even now, are 

1 Eurytion.'] — Ver. 593. At the nuptials of Pirithoiis and Hippoda- 
mia. See the Metamorphoses, Book xii. 1. 220, where he is called Eurytus. 

2 Stealing up.'] — Ver. 605. This piece of impudence he professes to 
practise in the Amores, Book i. El. iv. L 56. 



B. I. 625—654.] OR, THE ABT OF LOTE. 403 

Juno and Pallas ashamed at not having gained the decision in 
the Phrygian groves ? The bird of Juno 3 exposes her feathers, 
when praised ; if you look at them in silence, she conceals 
her treasures. Amid the contests of the rapid course, their 
trimmed manes, and their patted necks, delight the steeds. 

Promise, too, without hesitation : promises attract the fair : 
make any Gods you please to be witnesses of what you pro- 
mise. Jupiter, from on high, smiles at the perjuries of lovers, 
and commands the JEolian South winds to sweep them away 
as worthless. Jupiter was accustomed to swear falsely to 
Juno by the Styx : now is he himself indulgent to his own pre- 
cedent. *Tis expedient that there should be Gods ; 4 and as it 
is expedient, let us believe them to exist. Let frankincense 
and wine be presented on their ancient altars. No repose, free 
from care and similar to sleep, possesses them ; live in inno- 
cence, for a Divinity is ever present. Restore the pledge ; let 
piety observe her duties ; be there no fraud; keep your hands 
free from bloodshed. 

Deceive, if you are wise, the fair alone with impunity ; for 
this one piece of deceit only is good faith to be disregarded. 
Deceive the deceivers ; in a great measure they are all a guilty 
race ; let them fall into the toils which they have spread. 
Egypt is said to have been without showers that refresh the 
fields : and to have been parched during nine years. When 
Thrasius went to Busiris, 5 and showed that Jupiter could 
be propitiated by shedding the blood of strangers; to 
him Busiris said, " Thou shalt become the first sacrifice to 
Jove, and, a stranger, thou shalt produce rain for Egypt/'* 
Phalaris, too, burnt in the bull the limbs of the cruel PeriUus ; 
the unhappy inventor was the first to make proof of his work. 

3 Bird of Juno.] — Ver. 627. This fact, in natural history, was probably 
known only to Ovid, or the peacocks of the present day may be less vain 
than the Roman ones. See the Metamorphoses, Book i. 1. 723. 

4 That there should he Gods.] — Ver. 637. This was the avowed opi- 
nion of some of the philosophers and atheists of antiquity. We learn from 
Tertullian that Diogenes, being asked if the Gods exist, answered that he 
did not know anything about it, but that they ought to exist. The doc- 
trine of the Epicureans was, that the Gods lived a happy and easy life, 
were not susceptible of anger, and did not trouble themselves about men. 

5 Went to Busiris.]— -Ver. 649. See the Tristia, Book iii. El. xi. 1. 39, 
where the story of Phalaris is also referred to. Thrasius was the brother 
of Pygmalion, and was justly punished bv Busiris for his cruel suggestion. 

bd2 



404 ABS AMATORIA ;■ [b. i. 655— 691. 

Each of them was just ; and, indeed, no law is there more 
righteous, than that the contrivers of death should perish by 
their own contrivances. Therefore, since perjuries with justice 
impose upon the perjured, let woman grieve, deceived through 
a precedent her own. 

Tears, too, are of utility : by tears you will move adamant. 
Make her, if you can, to see your moistened cheeks. If tears 
shall fail you, for indeed they do not always come in. time, touch 
your eyes with your wet hand. What discreet person would 
not mingle kisses with tender words ? Though she should not 
grant them ; still take them ungranted. Perhaps she will 
struggle at first, and will say, " You naughty man!" still, in 
her struggling, she will wish to be overcome. Only, let them 
not, rudely snatched, hurt her tender lips, and take care that 
she may not be able to complain that they have proved a cause 
of pain. He who has gained kisses, if he cannot gain the rest 
as well, will deserve to lose even that which has been granted 
him. Howmuch is there wanting for unlimited enjoyment after 
a kis.s ! Oh shocking ! 'twere downright clownishness, and not 
modesty. Call it violence, if you like ; such violence is pleasing 
to the fair; they often wish, through compulsion, to grant what 
they are delighted to grant. Whatever fair one has been de- 
spoiled by the sudden violence of passion, she is delighted at 
it ; and the chief is as good as a godsend. But she, who, when 
she might have been carried by storm, has escaped untouched, 
though, in her features, she should pretend gladness, will really 
be sorry. Phcebe suffered 6 violence ; to her sister was violence 
offered; and pleasing was either ravisher to the ravished. The 
damsel of Scyros being united to the Haemonian hero, is a 
well-known story indeed, but not unworthy to be related. 

Now, the Goddess, worthy to conquer the other two at the 
foot of mount Ida, had given her reward of the approval 
of her beauty. Now, from a distant region, had a daughter- 
in-law come to Priam : and within Ilian walls there was a 
Grecian wife. All swore in the words of the affronted hus- 
band ; for the grief of one was the common cause. A dis- 
graceful thing, had he not yielded in this to the entreaties of 
his mother, Achilles had concealed his manhood by the long 
garments. What art thou doing, descendant of iEacus 1 The 

6 Phoebe suffered.'] — Ver. 679. See the story of the rape of Phoebe 
and Elaira, by Castor and Pollux, in the Fasti, Book v. 1. 699. 



B. I. 691—728.] OR, THE ART OF LOYE. 405 

wool is no task of thine. Do thou seek glory hy other arts 
of Pallas. What hast thou to do with work-baskets V Thy 
hand is fitted for holding the shield. Why hold the allotted 
flax in thy right hand, by which Hector shall fall 1 Spurn 
those spindles enwrapped in the laborious warp ; the lance 
from Pelion is to be brandished by that hand. By chance 
in the "same chamber there was a royal maiden ; in her own 
undoing she found that he was a male. By force, indeed, 
was she overcome, so we must believe : but still, by force was 
she willing to be overcome. Many a time did she say, " Stay," 
when now Achilles was hastening to depart ; for, the distaff 
laid aside, he had assumed valiant arms. Where now is this 
violence ? Why, with gentle voice, Deidamia, dost thou de- 
tain the perpetrator of thy disgrace ? As, forsooth, there is 
shame in first beginning at any time, so 'tis pleasing to the 
fair to submit, when the other takes the initiative. 

Alas ! too great is the confidence of any youth in his own 
good looks, if he awaits for her to be the first to ask him. 
Let the man make the first approaches; let the man use words 
of entreaty ; she will kindly receive his soft entreaties. To gain 
your wish, ask ; she only wishes to be asked. Tell her the 
cause and the origin of your desires. Jupiter came as a sup- 
pliant to the Heroines of olden times ; 8 no fair one found 
fault with great Jove. But if you perceive puffed-up vanity 
to be the result of your prayers, desist from your design, and 
withhold your advances. Many desire that which flies from 
them, and hate that which is close at hand. By pressing on 
less eagerly, remove all weariness of yourself. Nor must 
your hope of enjoyment be always confessed by you as you 
entreat ; let Love make his entrance concealed beneath the 
name of friendship. By this introduction, I have seen the 
prudish fair deceived ; he who was the friend, became the 
lover. A fair complexion is unbecoming in a sailor; he 
ought to be swarthy, from the spray of the sea and the 
rays of the sun. It is unbecoming, too, to the husbandman, 
who, with his crooked plough and his heavy harrows, is al- 
ways turning up the ground in the open air. And if your body 

7 Work-baskets .] — Ver. 693. See the Note to the seventy-third line 
of the Ninth Epistle. 

8 Heroines of olden times.'] — Vei. 713. Such as Danae, Europa, 
Semele, Alcmena, Io, Calisto, Antiope, Maia, Electre, and others. 



406 ARS AMATOEIA; [b. i. 728— .757. 

is fair, you, by whom the glory of the chaplet of Pallas 9 is 
sought, you will be unsightly. 

Let every one that is in love be pale ; that is the proper 
complexion for one in love. That is becoming ; from your fea- 
tures, let the fair think that you are not in good health. 
Pale with love for Lyrice, 10 did Orion wander in the woods ; 
pale for the Naiad, in her indifference, was Daphnis. 11 Thin- 
ness, too, shows the feelings ; and think it no disgrace to put 
a hood over your shining looks. Let sleepless nights atten- 
uate the bodies of the youths ; care, too, and the grief that 
proceeds from violent love. That you may gain your desires, 
be wretched, that he who sees you may be able to say, "You 
are in love. ,, 

Shall I complain, or only remind you how all right and 
wrong is confused? Friendship is but a name, constancy an 
empty title. Alas ! alas ! it is not safe to praise the object 
that you love to your friend. When he has credited your 
praises, he supplants you. But the descendant of Actor did 
not defile the couch of Achilles ; so far as Pirithous was con- 
cerned, Phsedra was chaste. Pylades 12 loved Hermione, with 
the affection with which Phoebus loved Pallas ; and he was 
such, daughter of Tyndarus, as thy twin brother Castor was 
towards thee. If any one expects the same, let him expect 
that the tamarisks will bear apples, and let him look for 
honey in the middle of the stream. Nothing pleases but 
what is base ; his own gratification is the object of each. 
This, too, becomes pleasant from the sorrow of another. Oh 
disgraceful conduct ! no enemy is to be dreaded by the lover. 
Shun those whom you think trustworthy ; then you will be safe. 
Shun your kinsman, and your brother, and your dear friend ; 
this class will cause you real alarm. 

I was here about to conclude ; but there are various dis- 
positions in the fair ; treat these thousand dispositions in a 
thousand different ways. The same soil does not produce 

9 Chaplet of Pallas.'] — Ver. 727. A crown of olive was presented to 
the victors in the athletic exercises at the Olympic games. 

10 Love for Lyrice ] — Ver. 731. If Lyrice here is a female name, it is 
not known who she was. 

II Daphnis.'] — Ver. 732. He was a Sicilian, the son of Mercury, and 
the inventor of Bucolic poetry. 

13 Pylades.] — Ver. 745. Hermione was the wife of Orestes, the friend 
of Pylades. 



B . i m 757—772.] OE, THE AET OE LOYE. 407 

everything ; one suits the vine, another the olive ; in this, 
corn springs up vigorously. There are as many characters 
in these various dispositions, as there are forms in the world ; 
the man that is wise, will adapt himself to these innumerable 
characters. And as at one moment Proteus will make him- 
self flow in running water ; and now will be a Hon, now a 
tree, now a shaggy goat. These fish are taken with a dart, 13 
those with hooks ; these the encircling nets draw up, the rope 
being extended. And let no one method be adopted by you 
for all years. The aged hind will espy from a greater distance 
your contrivances. Should you seem learned to the ignorant, 
or forward to the bashful, she will at once distrust herself, 
now apprehensive. Thence it happens, that she who has 
dreaded to trust herself to the well-bred man, often falls into 
the embrace of some worthless inferior. 

A part remains of the task which I have undertaken, a part 
is completed ; here let the anchor, thrown out, hold fast my 
bark. 

13 With a dart.'] — Ver. 763. It appears by this, that it was the custom 
to take fish by striking them with a javelin. Salmon are sometimes caught 
in a similar manner at the present day. 



BOOK THE SECOND. 



Sing, "Io Paean;" 1 and "Io Paean" twice sing; the prey 
that was sought has fallen into our toils. Let the joyous lover 
present my fines with the verdant palm; to Hesiod the Ascraean 
and to Homer the Maeonian old man shall I be preferred. 
Such did the stranger son of Priam set his whitening sails 
from the armed Amy else, 2 together with the ravished wife. 
Such was he who bore thee, Hippodamia, in his victorious 
chariot, carried by the wheels ot the stranger. Why hasten 
then, young man ? Thy ship is sailing in the midst of the 
waves ; and far distant is the harbour for which I make. It 
is not enough, me your Poet, for the fair to be gained by you. 
Through my skill has she been acquired ; through my skill 
must she be retained. 'Tis no less merit to keep what is 
acquired, than to gain it. In the former there is some chance ; 
in the latter will be a work of art. 

Now, if ever, Boy Cupid and Cytherea, be propitious to me : 
now, Erato ; 3 for thou hast a name from Love. Great attempts 
do I contemplate ; to tell by what means Love can be arrested, 
the Boy that wanders over the world so wide, He is both in- 
constant, and he has two wings with which to fly. 'Tis an 
arduous task to impose laws on these. 

Minos had obstructed all means of escape to the stranger. 
He discovered a bold path 4 with his wings. When Daedalus 

1 Sing, 'Io Pean.'~\ — Ver. 1. This was the usual cry of the hunters, 
who thus addressed Apollo, the God of the chase, when the prey had heen 
captured in the toils. See the Metamorphoses, Book iv. 1. 513. 

2 Amycl(e.~\ — Ver. 5. A town of Laconia. See the Metamorphoses, 
Book x. 1. 219, and the Note. 

3 Erato.} — Ver. 16. He addresses himself to this Muse, as her name 
was derived from the Greek lowg, l love.' It has been suggested that he 
had another reason for addressing her, as she was thought to take pleasure 
in warfare, a state which sometimes, by way of variety, exists between 
lovers. 

4 A hold path.'] — Ver. 22. This story is again related in the Eighth 
Book of the Metamorphoses. J 



B. II. 24—58.] AES AMATOEIA ; OE, THE AET OF LOYE. 409 

had enclosed the man half-btdl, and the hull half-man, that 
was conceived in the criminality of his mother ; he said, 
'* Most just Minos, let there be a termination of my exile ; 
and let my paternal land receive my ashes. And since, 
harassed by the cruel Destinies, I cannot live in my country, 
let me be enabled to die. If the merits of an old man are 
but small, grant a return to this boy ; if thou art unwilling 
to favour the boy, then favour the old man." This he said : 
but both this and many more things he might have said ; the 
other did not permit a return to the hero. Soon as he saw 
this, he said, " Now, now, Daedalus, thou hast a subject, 
upon which thou mayst prove ingenious. Lo ! Minos pos- 
sesses the land, and he possesses the ocean ; neither earth nor 
water is open for our escape ; there remains a path through the 
heavens ; through the heavens will we attempt to go. Jupiter 
on high, grant pardon to my design. I do not aim to reach 
the starry abodes ; there is no way but this one, by which I 
may escape the tyrant. Should a road through Styx be 
granted ; then we will swim through the Stygian waves ; 
let the laws of nature be changed by me." Misfortunes often 
sharpen the genius ; who could have ever believed, that a 
mortal could attempt the paths of the air ? 

He arranges swift feathers in order, like oars, 5 and connects 
the light work with fastenings of thread ; the lower part, too, 
is bound together with wax, melted by the fire ; and now the 
work of the new contrivance is finished. The smiling boy 
handles both the wax and the feathers, not knowing that 
these instruments are prepared for his own shoulders. To 
him his father says : " With these ships must we reach our 
native land ; by these means must we escape from Minos. 
The air Minos could not, all else he has, shut against us. 
Cleave the air, which still thou mayst, with these my inven- 
tions. But neither the virgin of Tegesea, nor the sword- 
bearing Orion, 6 the companion of Bootes, will have to be be- 
held by thee. Follow me with the wings given to thee : I 
will go before on the way. Be it thy care to follow ; me thy 

5 Like oars.'] — Ver. 45. He aptly compares the arrangement of the 
main feathers of a wing to a row of oars. 

6 Orion.'] — Ver. 56. So in the Metamorphoses, Book v. 1. 206, he 
says to his son Icarus, ' Fly between both : and I bid thee neither to look 
at Bootes, nor Helice, nor the drawn sword of Orion.' 



410 AES AMATOEIA ; [b. II. 58— 90. 

leader, thou wilt be safe. But if we shall go through the air 
of the heavens, the sun close to us, the wax will not be able 
to endure the heat. If we shall wave our wings below, the 
sea near to us, the fluttering feathers will be wet with the 
ocean spray. Fly between them both; dread, too, the winds, 
my son ; and whichever way the breezes shall blow, set thy 
prospering sails." 

While he thus advises ; he fits his work on to the boy, and 
shows how it is to be moved; just as their mother teaches the 
helpless birds. Then he places upon his shoulders the wings 
made for himself; and with timidity he poises his body along 
this new track. And now about to fly, he gives kisses to his 
little son ; and the cheeks of the father do not withhold their 
tears. There is a hill, less than a mountain, more lofty than 
the level plain ; hence are their two bodies entrusted to their 
mournful flight. Daedalus both moves his own wings himself, 
and looks back on those of his son ; and he ever keeps on his 
own course. And now this unusual path delights him, and, 
fear laid aside, Icarus flies more courageously with emboldened 
skill. A person sees them, while he is angling 7 for fish with 
his quivering rod, and his right hand desists from the work 
he has commenced. Now Samos and Naxos had been left be- 
hind, on the left hand, and Paros, and Delos beloved by the 
Clarian God. 8 Lebynthos was to the right, and Calymne 9 
shaded with its woods, and Astypalsea, 10 surrounded with its 
fishy shallows ; when the boy, too venturesome in his incon- 
siderate daring, took a higher flight, and forsook his guide. 

The fastenings give way ; and the wax melts, the Divinity 
being so near'; and his arms, when moved, no longer catch the 
light breeze. Alarmed, he looks down upon the sea from 
the lofty heavens ; darkness, arising from trembling appre- 
hension, comes over his eyes. The wax has now melted ; he 
waves his bare arms, and he trembles, and has no means 

1 Is angling.] — Ver. 77. There is a similar passage in the Metamor- 
phoses, 1. 216. 

8 The Clarian God.]— Yer. 80. See the Fasti, Book i. 1. 20, and the 
Note. 

9 And Calymne.] — Ver. 81. These places are mentioned in the cor- 
responding passage in the Metamorphoses, Book viii. 1. 222. 

10 Astypaloea.] — Ver. 82. This was an isle in the group of the Spo- 
rades, between Crete and the Cyclades. It contained but one city, and 
was long and narrow, and of rugged appearance. 



B. II. 90 — 119.] OE, THE AST OF LOYE. 411 

whereby to be supported. Downward befalls; and as he 
falls, he cries, "Father! father! lam undone !" As he 
spoke, the azure waves closed his mouth. But the unhappy 
father, a father now no longer, cried aloud, " Icarus, where 
art thou ? Or under what part of the sky dost thou fly ?" 
" Icarus," again he cried aloud ; his feathers he beheld in the 
waves. The dry land covers his bones ; the sea retains his name. 

Minos could not restrain the wings of a mortal ; I myself 
am attempting to arrest a winged Divinity. If any one has 
recourse to the Hsemonian arts, and gives that which he has 
torn from the forehead of the young horse, 11 he is mistaken. 
The herbs of Medea will not cause love to endure ; nor yet the 
Marsian spells 12 mingled with the magic notes. The Phasian 
damsel would have retained the son of iEson, Circe Ulysses, if 
love could only have been preserved through incantations. Phil- 
tres, too, causing paleness, 13 are of no use when administered 
to the fair. Philtres injure the intellect, and have a maddening 
effect. Afar be all criminal attempts; to be loved, be worthy to 
be loved; a property which comeliness, or beauty alone, will not 
confer upon you. Though you should be Nireus, 14 bepraised by 
ancient Homer, and the charming Hylas, 15 carried off by the cri- 
minality of the Naiads ; that you may retain your mistress, and 
not have to wonder that you are deserted, add the endowments 
of the mind to the advantages of the person. Beauty is a fleet- 
ing advantage ; and the more it increases in years, the less it 
becomes, and, itself, is consumed by length of time. 

Neither the violets nor the opening lilies bloom for ever ; 
and, the roses lost, the thorny bush is prickly left behind. 
And, handsome man, soon shall come to you the hoary locks ; 
soon shall come the wrinkles, to furrow your body over. Now 
form a disposition which may be lasting, and add it to your 

11 The young horse."] — Ver. 100. See the Araores, Book i. El. yiii. 
1. 8, and the Note. 

12 The Marsian spells .] — Ver. 102. The ' nzenia' was a mournful dirge 
or chaunt uttered by the sorcerer in his incantations. On the Marsi, see 
the Sixth Book of the Fasti, 1. 142, and the Note to the passage. 

13 Causing paleness.'] — Ver. 105. Philtres were noxious potions, made 
of venomous or stimulating ingredients, prescribed as a means of gaining 
the affections of the person to whom they were administered. 

14 Nireus.] — Ver. 109. See the Pontic Epistles, Book iv. Ep. xiii. 
1. 16, and the Note to the passage. 

15 Charming Hylas.]— Ver. 110. See the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 406. 



412 AES AMATOftfA; [b. ii. 119— 150. 

beauty; that alone endures to the closing pile. And be it no 
light care to cultivate the mind with the liberal arts, and to 
learn thoroughly the two languages, the Latin and the Greek. 
Ulysses was not handsome, but he was fluent ; and yet with 
love he racked the ocean Goddesses. 16 Ah ! how oft did Calypso 
grieve at his hastening to depart, and declare that the waves 
were not favorable to his oars ! Again and again did she en- 
quire into the catastrophe of Troy. Often in another manner 
was he wont to repeat the same thing. On the shore they 
were standing ; even there did the beauteous Calypso enquire 
about the blood-stained death of the Odrysian chief. 

With a little stick, for by chance he was holding a stick, he 
depicted on the firm shore the subject on which she was en- 
quiring. "This is Troy," said he ; and the walls he drew on 
the shore ; " This must be Simois for thee, and suppose these 
to be my tents. There was a plain," and here he drew the 
plain, "which we moistened with the blood of Dolon, 17 while, 
as a spy, he was longing for the Heemonian horses. 18 There 
were the tents of the Sithonian Rhesus ; in this direction was 
I borne back again by the captured steeds." And many 
other things was he depicting, when the waves suddenly carried 
off both Pergamus and the tents of Rhesus together with 
their chief. Then the Goddess said, " Dost thou behold how 
famous names these waves have swept away, which thou dost 
trust will be favorable to thee about to depart ?" 

Come then, with hesitation, feel confidence in beauty so 
deceiving, whoever you are ; or else possess something of more 
value than comeliness. A beseeming courtesy especially enlists 
the feelings ; rudeness and harsh language promote hatred. 
We dislike the hawk, because it is always living in warfare ; 
the wolves too, that are wont to rush upon the startled flocks. 
But the swallow, because it is gentle, is exempt from the snares 
of men; and theChaonian bird 19 has the turrets for it to inhabit. 

16 Ocean Goddesses.] — Ver. 124. Calypso was really the only sea 
Goddess that was enamoured of Ulysses. Circe was not a sea Goddess. 

17 Blood of Dolon.] — Ver. 135. See the Metamorphoses, Book xiii. 
line 244. 

18 Heemonian horses.] — Ver. 136. The steeds of Achilles. 

19 The Chaonian bird.]— Ver. 150. Chaonia was a district of Epirus, 
said to have been so called from Chaon, a Trojan. Dodona was in Epirus, 
and in its forests were said to be doves that had the gift of prophecy. See 
the Translation of the Metamorphoses, pp. 467-8. 



B. II. 151— 185.] OE, THE AET OF LOVE. 413 

Afar be all strife and contentions of the abusive tongue ; with 
sweet words must gentle love be cherished. With strife let 
both wives persecute their husbands, and husbands their wives ; 
and, each in their turn, let them ever be thinking that they 
must resort to law. 20 This is the part of wives ; strife is the 
dowry of the wife. Let the mistress ever hear the accents 
that she longs for. At the bidding of no law have you come 
to live together ; in your case 'tis love that performs the duties 
of the law. Bring soft caresses, and words that delight the 
ear, that she may ever be joyous at your approach. 

I do not come as the instructor of the wealthy in Love ; he 
who makes presents has no need of my experience. He who 
says, whenever he pleases, "Accept this," has a genius of his 
own. To him do I yield: he has greater attractions than 
have any discoveries of mine. I am the instructor of the poor, 
because, as a poor man, I have been in love. When I could 
not give presents, I gave verses. 21 Let the poor man love with 
caution, let the poor man stand in fear of bad language, and let 
him put up with many a thing, not to be endured by the rich. 
I remember that once, when in a rage, I disarranged the hair 
of my mistress; of how many a day did that anger deprive 
me ! I do not think I did, and I did not see that I had, 
torn her tunic, but she said so, and at my cost it was replaced. 
But you who are wise, avoid the errors of your instructor ; 
and stand in awe of the punishment of my transgressions. 

Let battles be with the Parthians, but be there peace with 
your refined mistress ; mirth too, and whatever besides 
contains a reason for love. If she is not sufficiently kind or 
affable to you her lover ; have patience, and bear it ; after 
a time she will be softened. By giving way the supple branch 
is bent from the tree ; if you make trial of your strength, 
you break it. By giving way the waves are swam across ; 
but you cannot overcome the stream if you swim against the 
fiood which the tide carries down. 'Tis yielding that subdues 
the tigers and the Numidian lions. By degrees only does the 
bull submit to the rustic plough. What was there more coy 

20 Resort to law."] — Ver. 151. He means to say 'let man and wife be 
always thinking about resorting to law to procure a divorce.' 

21 I gave verses.] — Ver. 166. He intends a pun here. 'Verba dare' 
is ' to deceive,' but literally it means ' to give words.' See the Amores, 
Book i. EL viii. 1. 57. 



4 1 4 AES AMATOEIA ; [ B . „. 185-205. 

than Atalanta of Nonacris ? 22 Yet, untamed as she was, she 
yielded to the deserving qualities of a man. They say that 
many a time, beneath the trees, Milanion wept at his mishaps, 
and the unkind conduct of the fair one. Full oft on his neck, 
as ordered, did he bear the treacherous toils ; full oft with his 
cruel spear did he transfix the savage boars. Wounded, too, 
he experienced the stretched bow of Hylaeus ; 23 but yet there 
was another bow still more felt than this. 

I do not bid you, in arms, to climb the woods of Maenalus, 
and I do not bid you to carry the toils upon your neck. Nor 
yet do I bid you to expose your breast to the discharged arrows. 
The requirements of my skill will be but light to the careful 
man. Yield to her when opposing; by yielding, you will 
come off victorious. Only take care to perform the part which 
she shall bid you. What she blames, do you blame ; whatever 
she approves, do you approve ; what she says, do you say ; what 
she denies, do you deny. Does she smile, do you smile ; if 
she weeps, do you remember to weep. Let her prescribe the 
law for the regulation of your features. If she plays, and 
throws the ivory cubes 24 with her hand, do you throw unsuc- 
cessfully, do you make bad moves 25 to the throws; or if you are 
throwing 26 the dice, let not the penalty attend upon her losing ; 

22 Atalanta of Nonacris. .] — Ver. 185. See the Amores, Book iii. El. ii. 
1. 29, and the Note. 

23 Bow of' Hylaeus.'] — Ver. 191. Hylaeus and Rhaecus were Centaurs, 
who were pierced by Atalanta with her arrows, for making an attempt on 
her chastity. He alludes to the bow of Cupid in the next line. 

24 The ivory cubes.]— Vex. 203.' He alludes to throws of the ' tali ' and 
'tesserae/ which were different kinds of dice. See the Note to 1. 471 of 
the Second Book of the Tristia. In this line he seems to mean the ' tes- 
serae,' which were similar to our dice, while the ' tali,' which he next 
mentions, had only four flat surfaces, being made in- imitation of the 
knuckle-bones of animals, and having two sides uneven and rounded. The 
dice were thrown on a table, made for the purpose, with an elevated rim. 
Some throws, like our doublets, are supposed to have counted for more 
than the number turned up. ' The most fortunate throw was called ' Venus,' 
or ' Venereus jactus' ; it is thought to have consisted of a combination, 
making fourteen, the dice presenting different numbers. Games with dice 
were only sanctioned by law as a pastime during meals. 

25 Make bad moves'] — Ver. 204. ' Dare jacta ' means ' to move the 
throws,' in allusion to the game of ' duodecim scripta,' or 'twelve points,' 
which was played with counters moved according to the throws of the 
dice, probably in a manner not unlike our game of backgammon. The 
board was marked with twelve lines, on which the pieces moved. 

26 Or if you are throwing.] — Ver. 205. By the use of the word ' seu,' 



B. ii. 206—217.] OE, THE AET OP LOVE. 415 

take care that losing throws often befall yourself. If your 
piece is moving at the game that imitates 27 the tactics of war, 
take care that your man falls before his enemy of glass. 
Do you yourself hold the screen 28 stretched out by its ribs; do 
you make room in the crowd the way that she is going. And 
do not delay to place the footstool before the tasteful, couch; 29 
and take off or put on the sandals for her delicate feet. 
Often, too, must the hand of your mistress, when cold, be 
made warm in your bosom, though you yourself should shiver 
in consequence. And think it no disgrace (although it should 
be a disgrace to you, still it will give pleasure), to hold the 
looking-glass 30 with the hand of a free-born man. 

He who, by killing the monsters of his wearied step-mother, 

1 or,' we must suppose that he has, under the word ' numeric alluded to 
the game with the ' tesserae,' or six-sided dice. 

27 The game that imitates.'] — Ver. 207. He here alludes to the ' ludus 
latrunculorum,' literally ' the game of theft,' which is supposed to have 
been somewhat similar to our chess. He refers to its name in the words, 
' latrocinii sub imagine.' The game was supposed to imitate the furtive 
stratagems of warfare : hence the men, which were usually styled ' calculi,' 
were also called by the name of ' lat'rones,' ' latrunculi,' ' milites,' 'bella- 
tores,' ' thieves,' ' little thieves,' * soldiers, 1 ' warriors.' As we see by the 
next line, they were usually made of glass, though sometimes more costly 
materials were employed. The skill of this game consisted either in tak- 
ing the pieces of .the adversary, or rendering them unable to move. The 
first was done when the adversary's piece was brought by the other be- 
tween two of his own. See the Tristia, Bookii. 1. 477. The second took 
place when the pieces were ' ligati,' or ' ad incitas redacti,' brought upon 
the last line and unable to move. White and red are supposed to have 
been the colour of the men. This game was much played by the Roman 
ladies and nobles. 

28 Hold the screen.'] — Ver. 209. The ancients used ' umbracula,' or 
screens against the weather (resembling our umbrellas), which the Greeks 
called GKiadia. They were used generally for the same purposes as our 
parasols, a protection against the heat of the sun. They seem not to 
have been in general carried by the ladies themselves, but by female slaves, 
who held them over their mistresses. See the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 209. 
These screens, or umbrellas, were much used by the Roman ladies in the 
amphitheatre, to protect them from sun and rain, when the ' velarium,' or 
awning, was not extended. 

29 Tasteful couch.] — Ver. 211. This was probably the ' triclinium ' on 
which they reposed at meals. The shoes were taken off before reclining 
on it. Female slaves did this office for the ladies, and males for the men. 

30 Looking-glass.] — Ver. 216. These were generally held by female 
slaves, when used by their mistresses. See the Metamorphoses, Book iv. 
L 349, and the Note. 



416 AES AMATOEIA; [b. n. 213— 245. 

earned those heavens which before he had supported, is be- 
lieved, amid the Ionian girls, to have held the work-basket, 31 
and to have wrought the rough wool. The Tirynthian hero 
was obedient to the commands of his mistress. Go then, and 
hesitate to endure what he submitted to. When bidden to 
come to the Forum, take care always to be there before the 
appointed time ; and do not go away until a late hour. Does 
she appoint to meet you at any place ; put off everything else : 
run quickly, and let not the crowd stop your purposed route. 
Is she returning home at night, after having been at a feast ; 
then, too, if she calls, come to her as though a servant. 32 If 
you are in the country and she says, " Come," (love hates the 
tardy) if a vehicle 33 is not at hand, go your journey on foot. 
Let neither bad weather nor the parching Dog-star detain you, 
nor the road made white with the snow that lies there. 

Love is a kind of warfare ; cowards, avaunt ! These are 
not the standards to be defended by timid men. In this ten- 
der warfare, night, and wintry storms, and long journies, and 
cruel pain, and every kind of toil, have their part. Many a time 
will you have to endure the rain pouring from the clouds of 
heaven ; cold and on the bare ground full oft will you lie. 
Cynthius 34 is said to have fed the cows of Admetus of Pherse, 
and to have lived in an humble cottage. What was becoming 
to Phoebus, to whom is it not becoming ? Away with all con- 
ceit, whoever you are, who have a care for a lasting passion. 
If access is denied you by a safe and smooth path ; and if her 
door shall be fastened by the bar put up ; then, do you slip 
straight down through the open roof: 35 let the high win- 

31 Held the worJc-iasJcet.] — Ver. 219. Hercules, who killed the ser- 
pents sent by Juno, is reproached for doing this, by Deianira in her 
Epistle. 

32 As though a servant.'] — Ver. 228. He is to be ready, if his mistress 
goes to a party, to act the part of the slave, who was called ' adversitor,' 
whose duty it was to escort his master home in the evening, if it was 
dark, with a lighted torch. 

33 A vehicle.'] — Ver. 230. ' Rota,' a wheel, is, by Synecdoche, used to 
signify ' a vehicle.' 

34 Cynthius.] — Ver. 240. See the Note to line 51, of the Epistle from 
CEnone to Paris. 

35 Through the open roof.] — Ver. 245. He gives a somewhat hazardous 
piece of advice here ; as he instructs him to obtain admission by climbing 
up the wall, and getting in at the skylight, which extended over the 



b. ii. 246— 263.] OR, THE ART OF LOVE. 417 

dow, 36 too, present a secret passage. She will be pleased when 
she knows that she has proved the cause of risk to you. This 
will be to your mistress a pledge of your unvarying love. Full 
oft, Leander, couldst thou have done without thy mistress ; 
that she might know thy passion, thou didst swim across. 

And be not ashamed to make her handmaids, as each one is 
superior in rank, nor yet her male servants, entirely your own. 
Salute them each by name, there will be nothing thrown away : 
press their humble hands, proud lover, with your own. More- 
over, (the expense is but trifling) give to the servant who asks, 
some little present from your means. Make a present, too, 
to the handmaid, on the day on which 37 the Gallic army, de- 
ceived by the garments of the matrons, received retribu- 
tion. Follow my advice, and make the lower classes 38 your 
own ; in that number let there always be the porter, and him 
who lies before the door of her chamber. And I do not bid 
you present to your mistress any costly gift ; give her 
moderate ones, but, in your discrimination, well selected from 

' atrium,' or ' court,' a room which occupied the middle of the house. The 
Roman houses had, in general, but one story over the ground-floor. 

36 The high window!] — Ver. 246. This passage may be illustrated by 
the Note to 1. 752 of Book xiv. of the Metamorphoses. 

37 Day on which.] — Ver. 257. He alluded to a festival celebrated by 
the servants, on the Caprotine Nones, the seventh of July, when they 
sacrificed to ' Juno Caprotina.' Macrobius says that the' servants sacri- 
ficed to Juno under a wild fig-tree (called ' caprificus'), in memory of the 
service done by the female slaves, in exposing themselves to the lust of 
the enemy, for the public welfare. The Gauls being driven from the city, 
the neighbouring nations chose the Dictator of the Fidenates for their 
chief, and, marching to Rome, demanded of the Senate, that if they would 
save their city, they should send out to them their wives and daughters. 
The Senate, knowing their own weakness, were much perplexed, when a 
handmaid, named ' Tutela,' or ' Philotis,' offered, with some others, to go 
out to the enemy in disguise. Being, accordingly, dressed like free women, 
they repaired in tears to the camp of the enemy. They soon induced 
their new acquaintances to drink, on the pretence that they were bound 
to consider the day as a festival ; and when intoxicated, a signal was given 
from a fig-tree near, that the Romans should fall on them. The camp of 
the enemy was assailed, and most of them were slain. In return for their 
service, the female slaves were made free, and received marriage portions 
at the public expense. Another account, agreeing with the present pas- 
sage, says, that the Gauls were the enemy who made the demand, and that 
Retana was the name of the female slave. 

38 The lower classes.'] — Ver. 259. Witness his own appeals in the 
Amores to Nape, Cypassis, Bagoiis, and the porter. 

E E 



4 18 AES A.MA.TOEIA; [b. n. 263— 286. 

those that are moderate. "While the country is abundantly- 
rich in produce, while the branches are bending beneath their 
load, let the boy bring your gifts from the country in his 
basket. You may say that they have been sent by you from 
your suburban retreat, although they may have been bought 
even in the Sacred Street. 39 Let him carry either grapes, or 
what Amaryllis was so fond of ; 40 but, at the present day, she 
is fond of chesnuts no longer. And, besides, both with a 
thrush and a pigeon, 41 sent as a present, you may show how 
attentive you are to your mistress. By these means 42 are the 
expectations of death, and solitary old age, disgracefully made 
matter of purchase. Oh ! may they perish through whom 
gifts promote criminal objects ! 

Why should I recommend you to send tender lines as well? 
Alas ! poetry does not 43 gain much honour. Verses are praised: 
but 'tis costly gifts that are sought. If he is only rich, 44 a very 
barbarian is pleasing. Truly is this the golden age ; the 
greatest honours accrue through gold ; love is purchased 
with gold. Though thou thyself, Homer, shouldst come, at- 
tended by the Muses ; if thou shouldst bring nothing with 
thee, thou wouldst be turned out of doors. 

And yet there are the learned fair, a very limited number ; 
another set are not learned, but they wish to be so. Both 
kinds may be praised in verse ; the reader may set off the 
lines of whatever quality by a melodious voice. Indeed, a 
poem, carefully composed in their honour, will be to these 

39 In the Sacred Street. ]— Ver. 266. Presents of game and trout very 
often follow a similar devolution at the present day. 

40 Amaryllis was so fond of.] — Ver. 267. He alludes to a line of Virgil, 
which, doubtless, was then well known to all persons of education. It 
occurs in the Eclogues: ' Castaneasque nuces, mea quas Amaryllis amabat.' 
' Chesnuts, too, which my Amaryllis was so fond of.' In the next line, 
he hints that the damsels of his day were too greedy to be satisfied with 
chesnuts only. 

41 Thrush and a pigeon.] — Ver. 269. Probably live birds of the kind 
are here alluded to ; Pliny tells us that they were trained to imitate the 
human voice. Thrushes were much esteemed as a delicacy for the table. 
They were sold tied up in clusters, in the shape of a crown. 

42 By these means.] — Ver. 271. He alludes to those who contrived to 
slip into dead men's shoes, by making trifling presents of niceties. Ju- 
venal inveighs against this practice. 

43 Poetry does not.] — Ver. 274. See the remarks of Dipsas in the 
Amores, Book i. El. viii. 1. 57. 

44 Only rich.] — Ver. 276. See the Amores, Book hi. El. ii. 



B. II. 286— 310.] OK, THE AET OF LOYE. 419 

or to those, as good, perhaps, as a little present. But take 
care that whatever you are about to do of your own accord 
and consider convenient, your mistress shall always first ask 
that of you. Has freedom been promised to any one of your 
slaves ; still cause him to make a request for it of your mis- 
tress. If you forgive punishment and cruel fetters to your 
slave, let her be indebted to you for what you were about to 
do. Let the advantage be your own ; let the credit be given 
to your mistress. Suffer no loss yourself, and let her act the 
part of the person in power. 

But whosoever you are who have a care to retain the fair, 
cause her to believe that you are enchanted with her beauty. 
If she is in Tyrian costume, praise the dress of Tyrian hue ; 45 
if she is in that of Cos, 46 consider the Coan habit as becoming. 
Is she arrayed in gold, let her be more precious in your eyes 
than gold itself : if she wears a dress of felt, 47 praise the felt 
dress that she wears. Does she stand before you in her tunic, 
exclaim, "You are setting me on fire ;" 48 but entreat her, with 
a voice of anxiety, to beware of the cold. Is the parting of 
her hair nicely arranged ; praise the parting of it ; has she 
curled her hair by aid of the fire : curled locks, do you prove 
the attraction. As she dances, admire her arms, her voice as 
she sings ; and use the words of one complaining because she 
has left off. Her very embraces 49 you may commend, on the 
points that please yourself ; and with murmuring accents you 
may signify your delight. Though she be more fierce than the 
grim Medusa ; to her lover she will become gentle and kind. 

45 Tyrian hue.]— Yer. 297. See the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 107, and the 
Note. 

46 Of Cos.]— Ver. 298. See the Epistles of Sabinus, Ep. iii. 1. 45, and 
the Note. 

47 A dress of felt.] — Ver. 300. * Gausape,' ' gausapa,' or ' gausapum,' 
was a kind of thick woolly cloth, which had a long nap on one side. It 
was used to cover tables and heds, and as a protection against wind and 
rain. It was worn both by males and females, and came into use among 
the Romans about the time of Augustus. 

48 You are setting me on fire.] — Ver. 301. Burmann deservedly cen- 
sures the explanation of ' moves incendia,' given by Crispinus, the Delphin 
Editor, ' Vous mourrez de chaud,' ' You will die of heat,' applying the ob- 
servation to the lady, and not, figuratively, to the feelings of her lover. 

49 Her very embraces.] — Ver. 308. The common reading of this line 
is clearly corrupt ; probably the reading is the one here adopted, ' Et qua 
dat, gaudia, voce proba.' 

E E 2 



420 AKS AMATOEIA ; [b. n. 310— 341. 

Only, take you care that you be not discovered to be a deceiver 
in these expressions ; and by your looks do not contradict 
your words. If devices are concealed, they are of use ; when 
discovered, they cause shame, and deservedlyremove confidence 
for all future time. Often, at the approach of autumn (when 
the year is most beauteous, and the filled grape is growing 
red with its purple juice ; at the time when at one moment 
we are chilled with cold, at another we are melted with heat), 
through the varying temperature a languor takes possession 
of the body. She, indeed, may be in good health ; but if, 
through illness she keeps her bed, and, ailing, feels the bad 
effects of the weather, then let your love and affection be 
proved to the fair ; then sow, that hereafter with the sickle 
of abundance you may reap. Let no disgust at her malady, 
that renders her so cross, come upon you : by your hands too, 
let whatever she will permit, be done. And let her see you 
as you weep ; and be not tired of giving her kisses ; and 
with her parched lips let her dry up your tears. Make many a 
vow for her cure 3 but all before her : and as often as she will 
permit, be seeing pleasant visions to tell her of. Let the old 
woman come, 50 too, to purify her couch and chamber ; and in 
her palsied hand let her carry before her the sulphur and the 
eggs. In all these things there will be traces of a pleasing 
attention ; for many a one has this road proved a path to 
another man's will. But still, let not loathing on the part of 
the sick fair be the result of your officiousness ; let there be 
certain limits shown in your careful attentiveness. Do not 
you forbid her food, nor administer the cups with the bitter 
draught ; let your rival mingle those. 

But when you have gained the open sea, you must not use 
the breeze to which you set your sails from off the shore. 
While Love is wandering in his youth, let him gain strength by 
habit ; if you nurse him well, in time he will be strong. Him 

60 Let the old woman come.] — Ver. 329. In sickness it was the custom 
to purify tbe bed and chamber of the patient, with sulphur and eggs. It 
seems also to have been done when the patient was pining through unre- 
quited love. Apulius mentions a purification by the priest of Isis, who 
uses eggs and sulphur while holding a torch and repeating a prayer. The 
nurse of the patient seems here to be directed to perform the ceremony. 
See the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 19, and Book iv. 1. 728. From a passage of 
Juvenal, we find that it was a common practice to purify with eggs and- 
sulphur, in the month of September, 



B. II. 341— 376.] OR, THE ART OF LOVE. 421 

that you fear as a bull, as a calf you -were wont to pat ; the 
tree under which you are now reclining, was once a twig. A 
river at its rise is small, but it acquires strength in its course ; 
and where it runs, it now receives many a stream. Make her 
become used to you ; there is nothing more powerful than 
habit. While you are courting her, avoid no amount of trou- 
ble. Let her be always seeing you ; let her be always lending 
ear to you ; let both night and day show your countenance. 
When you have a greater confidence that you may be missed ; 
then, destined to be her care when absent, go away to a dis- 
tance. Give yourself some repose ; the land that has lain 
fallow, gives back in abundance what has been entrusted to 
it ; and the dry ground sucks up the water of the heavens. 
Demophoon, when present, inflamed Phyllis in a less degree ; 
when he had set sail, more violently did she burn. The 
crafty Ulysses* by his absence, tortured Penelope : far away, 
tearful Laodamia, was thy hero of Phylace. 

But a short respite alone is safe ; in time, cares become 
modified, and the absent love decays and a new one makes its 
entrance. While Menelaus was absent, Helen, that she might 
not he alone, was received at night into the warm bosom of 
his guest. What meant, Menelaus, this stupidity of thine ? 
Thou didst go away alone ; under the same roof were both 
the stranger and thy wife. And dost thou entrust, madman, 
the timid doves to the hawk ? Dost thou entrust the well- 
filled sheep-fold to the mountain wolf? Helen commits no 
sin ; this paramour of hers does no wrong ; he does what thou, 
what any one, would do. Thou dost persuade them to adul- 
tery, by giving both time and opportunity. What advice, 51 but 
thine own, has the fair made use of? What is she to do? 
Her husband is away, and a guest, no repulsive person, is 
present, and she is afraid to sleep alone in an empty couch. 
Let the son of Atreus think better of it : I acquit Helen 
of criminality ; she made use of the opportunity given by an 
easy husband. 

But neither is the tawny boar so fierce in the midst of his 
rage, when he hurls the furious dogs with the lightning 
shock of his tusks ; nor the lioness, when she is giving the 
breast to her sucking whelps ; nor the little viper, when in- 

51 What advice'] — Ver. 368. These attempts at argument are exhausted 
by Paris, in his Epistle to Helen. 



422 AES AMATOEIA; [b. II. 376— 412. 

jured by the heedless foot ; as the woman, who is furious on 
detecting the rival of her nuptial couch, and bears on her fea- 
tures the proofs of her feelings. To the sword and to flames 
(does she resort ; and, shame laid aside, onward she is impelled, 
Its though struck by the horns of the Aonian God. The bar- 
barian fair one of Phasis avenged the fault of her husband, and 
the violated rights of a wife, by the death of her sons. See, 
how another cruel parent ('tis the swallow that you behold) 
has her breast stained with blood. 'Tis this breaks those at- 
tachments that are firmly united, this, those of long duration ; 
these faults must then be guarded against by cautious men. 

But stilly my judgment does not condemn you to one fair 
alone. The Gods forbid ! hardly can the married woman adhere 
to this. Disport yourself ; but let your faultiness be concealed 
by a decent stealthiness. No glory must be sought in one's 
own delinquency. And do you give no present of which the 
other may know ; nor be there any stated times for your in- 
triguing. And, lest the fair one should catch you in the retreat 
so well known to her, all must not be met in the same place 
of rendezvous. And, as often as you shall be writing, do you 
first examine the whole of the tablet ; many a woman reads 
more than what has been sent to her. A slighted passion 
brandishes the arms of retribution, and hurls back the wea- 
pon, and causes yourself to complain of that of which it com- 
plained so lately. 

So long as the son of Atreus was content with one woman, 
she, too, was chaste ; through the fault of her husband did 
she become culpable. She had heard how that Chryses, bear- 
ing in his hand the laurel and the fillets, had not prevailed in 
behalf of his daughter. She had heard, too, ravished one 
of Lyrnesus, of thy sorrows ; and how the warfare had been 
protracted through disgraceful delays. Still, these things she 
had only heard of ; the daughter of Priam, herself, she had 
seen. Thou, the conqueror, wast the disgraced captive of thy 
own captive. Then did she receive the son of Thyestes, both 
into her chamber and her affections ; and the daughter of Tyn- 
darus avenged herself on a husband so deeply criminal. 

Your actions, which you have studiously concealed, if per- 
chance any of them are discovered, although they should be 
notorious, still do you always deny them. On such occasions, 
do you neither be subdued, nor more kind than usual. That 



B. II. 412— 4$5.] OB, THE AET OE LOVE. 423 

bears the marks of a mind that has too deeply offended. 
Still, spare not any endearments on your side ; peace is 
entirely centred in caresses alone ; by these must the former 
intrigue be disavowed. There are some who would recom- 
mend you to use injurious herbs, such as savory ; in my 
opinion they are so many poisons. Or else, they mingle 
pepper with the seed of the stinging nettle ; 52 and the yellow 
camomile pounded in old wine. But the Goddess, whom the 
lofty Eryx receives beneath his shady hill, does not allow us 
to be impelled in such manner to her delights. The white 
onion 53 which is sent from the Pelasgian city of Alcathoiis, 54 and 
the salacious herbs which come out of the gardens, and eggs 
may be eaten ; the honey of Hymettus may be eaten, and the 
nuts which the pine-tree with its sharp leaves produces. 

Why, learned Erato, art thou thus diverging into the medical 
art ? The inner side of the turning-place must be grazed by 
my chariot. You, who just now were, by my recommendation, 
to conceal your delinquencies, change your course, and, by my 
advice, disclose your intrigues. Nor yet is any inconsistency 
of mine to be censured ; the curving ship does not always 
carry those on board with the same breezes. For sometimes 
we run with the Thracian Boreas, sometimes with the East 
wind ; full oft does the canvass swell with the Zephyrs, with 
the South wind full oft. See how, in the chariot, the driver, at 
one moment, gives the flowing rein, at another, skilfully 
checks the horses in full career. There are some, with whom 
an anxious obsequiousness is ruinous, and if there is no rival 
existing, then their passion waxes faint. The feelings often 
run riot amid prosperity ; and to bear good fortune with 
equanimity is no easy task. As the declining fire, its strength 
consuming by degrees, itself lies concealed, and the ashes be- 
come white over the surface of the fire ; but still, when sulphur 
is applied, it finds the flames that were extinguished, and the 
light returns which existed before ; so, when the feelings, 
sluggish through repose, and free from care, become torpid, 
by sharp stimulants must love be aroused. Make her to be 

53 Stinging '-nettle, .] — Ver. 417. Pliny prescribes nettle-seed as a stimu- 
lating medicine, mixed with linseed, hyssop, and pepper. 

53 White onion.] — Ver. 421. The onions of Megara are praised by 
Cato, the agricultural writer. 

54 Alcathoiis.] — Ver. 421. See the Metamorphoses, Book vii. I. 443. 



424 ABS AMATOEIA ; [ B . n. 445—479. 

jealous on your account, and rekindle her deadened feelings ; 
let her turn pale at the proof of your inconstancy. 

Oh four times blest, and so oft, that it is not possible 
to limit it to numbers, is that man, on whose account the 
slighted fair is in grief! who, soon as the charge has reached 
her unwilling ears, faints away : and both her voice and colour 
leave the sorrowing fair. Would that I were he, whose locks 
she tears in her fury ; would that I were he, whose tender 
cheeks she tears with her nails ; whom she looks upon burst- 
ing into tears ; whom she beholds with scowling eyes ; without 
whom she cannot exist ; but still wishes that she could. If 
you enquire as to its duration : let the time be short for her to 
complain of her injuries, lest her anger may acquire strength 
in the slowly passing lapse of time. 

And now let her fair neck be encircled in your arms ; and 
as she weeps, she must be received in your bosom. Give her 
kisses as she weeps : bestow her caresses as she weeps. Peace 
will ensue : by this method alone is anger appeased. When 
she has been passionately raving, when she shall seem to be an 
assured enemy ; then seek your treaty of peace in caresses ; 
she will then be pacified. For 'tis there that Concord dwells, 
all arms laid aside ; 'tis in that spot, believe me, that the 
Graces were born. The doves which fought the moment 
before, are now billing ; their cooing has the meaning of 
caresses, and of words. 

At first 55 there was a confused mass of things without ar- 
rangement ; and the stars, the earth, and the ocean, were but 
of one appearance. Afterwards, the heavens were placed above 
the earth ; the land was surrounded by the sea, and the con- 
fused Chaos was divided into its elements. The woods received 
the beasts, the air the birds as its possession ; in the flowing 
waters, you, fishes were concealed. At that time the human 
race wandered in the solitary woods : and it consisted of 
nothing but brute force, and a mind quite uninformed. The 
woods were their houses, grass their food, and leaves their 
beds ; and for a long time the one was unknown to the 
other. Voluptuous pleasure is said to have been the first to 
soften their rude dispositions ; afterwards, the woman and 
the man settled in the same spot. What should they do ? 

55 At first.]— Ver. 467. See the beginning of the First Book of the 
Metamorphoses. 



B. II. 479—507.] Oil, THE ART OF XOYE. 425 

They had been instructed by no preceptor : Venus completed 
this delightful task without any art. The bird has an object 
to love : the female fish finds in the midst of the waters an 
object with which to share her joys. The hind follows her 
mate ; the serpent couples with the serpent ; the bitch, too, 
consorts with the dog. The delighted sheep unites with the 
rams the heifer, also, is pleased with the bull ; the fiat-nosed 
she-goat, too, receives her unclean mate. 56 Mares are driven 
to frenzy, and follow the horses, separated by streams, over 
places far distant from each other in situation. Come, then, 
and give an efficacious remedy to the angered fair ; 'tis that 
alone that puts an end to violent grief. J Tis that remedy 
which excels the potions of Machaon ; 57 through that, when 
you have offended, you will have to be reinstated. 

While I was thus singing, Apollo, suddenly appearing, 
touched with his thumb the strings of his lyre inlaid with gold. 
In his hands there was a laurel, placed on his holy locks there 
was a laurel : visible as a Poet he came. 58 " Thou instructor in 
wanton Love," says he, "come, lead thy pupils to my temples. 
There is there a sentence celebrated in fame over the universal 
world, which bids each one to know himself. 59 He who shall 
be known to himself, will alone love with prudence, and will 
proportion every task to his strength. He to whom nature has 
given beauty, for that let him be admired ; he who has a fair 
complexion, let him often he down with a shoulder exposed. 
He who charms with his discourse, let him break the quietude 
of silence ; he who sings with skill, let him sing ; he who 
drinks with elegance, 60 let him drink. But in the middle of a 

56 Unclean mate.] — Ver. 486. He alludes to the strong smell of the 
he-goat. 

57 Machaon."] — Ver. 491. He was a famous physician, son of iEsculapius, 
and was slain in the Trojan war. See the Tristia, Book v. El. vi. 1. 11. 

68 He came.] — Ver. 496. ' Adest ' seems a preferable reading to 
* agit.' 

59 To know himself.]— Ver. 500. TNQ01 2EAYT0N, « Know thyself,' 
was a saying of Chilo, the Lacedsemonian, one of the wise men of Greece. 
This maxim was also inscribed in gold letters in the temple of Apollo at 
Delphi. ' Too much of nothing ' was a second maxim there inscribed ; 
and a third was, * Misery is the consequence of debt and discord.' 

60 Drinks with elegance.] — Ver. 506. It is hard to say what art in 
drinking is here alluded to ; whether a graceful air in holding the cup, 
or the ability of drinking much without shewing any signs of inebriety. 



426 AES AMATOETA; [b. ii. 507— 537. 

conversation, neither let those who are eloquent declaim, and 
let not the insane poet be reciting his own compositions." 

Thus Phoebus recommended ; observe this recommendation 
of Phoebus. There is full confidence in the hallowed lips of 
this Divinity. I am now called to my more immediate sub- 
ject : whoever shall love with prudence, he will prove success- 
ful, and will obtain from my skill what he shall require. The 
furrows do not always return with interest that which has been 
entrusted to them ; nor does the breeze always aid the veering 
barks. What pleases lovers, is but a little : 'tis much more 
that crosses them ; let them resolve to endure many things 
with their feelings. As many as are the hares on Athos ; 61 as 
the bees that feed on Hybla ; 62 as the berries which the azure- 
coloured tree of Pallas bears ; as the shells on the sea-shore ; 
so many are the pangs of love ; the shafts which we endure are 
reeking with plenteous gall. 

She, whom perchance you shall see, will be said to have 
gone out of doors ; believe that she is gone out of doors, and 
that you make a mistake in your seeing. Is the door shut 
against you on the appointed night ; endure even to lay your 
body on the dirty ground. Perhaps, too, the lying maid will 
say with a haughty air, " Why is that fellow blocking up our 
door?" Suppliantly entreat even the door-posts of the obdu- 
rate fair ; and place at the door the roses that have been taken 
from off your head. 63 Come when she desires it ; when she 
shall shun you, you'll go away. It is not becoming for men 
of good breeding to cause weariness of their company. Why 
should your mistress be able to say of you, " There is no get- 
ting rid of this man ?" The senses 64 are not on the alert at all 
hours. And deem it no disgrace to put up with the curses of the 
fair one, or her blows, nor yet to give kisses to her delicate feet. 

But why dwell upon trifles ? Let my mind be occupied with 
greater subjects. Of great matters will I sing ; people, give 
all attention. I attempt an arduous task ; but merit there 

61 On Athos.'] — Ver. 517. See the Metamorphoses, Book ii. 1. 217, 
and the Note- 

62 On Hybla.]— Ver. 517. See the Tristia, Book v. EL xiii. 1. 22. 

63 Off your head.] — Ver. 528. Iphis, in the Fourteenth Book of the 
Metamorphoses, 1. 732, raises his eyes to the door-posts of his mistress, 
' so often adorned hy him with wreaths.' 

64 The senses.] — Ver. 532. He seems to believe, with Ninon d'En- 
clos, in the existence of a sixth sense. 



B. ii. 537—567.] OE, THE AET OF LOYE. 42/ 

is none, but what is secured by arduous means. By my under- 
taking are laborious attempts required. Endure a rival with 
patience ; the victory will rest with yourself ; you will be the 
conqueror on the heights of mighty Jove. 65 Believe that not a 
mortal tells you this, but the Pelasgian oaks of Bodona : my 
skill has nothing superior to this to teach you. Does she make 
a sign to him, do you put up with it ; does she write, don't 
you touch the tablets ; let her come from whatever place she 
likes ; and wherever she chooses, let her go. This do hus- 
bands allow to their lawful wives ; even, too, when thou, gentle 
sleep, 66 dost come to thy duty. I confess, that in this art I 
myself am not yet perfect. What must I do ? I am myself un- 
equal to my own precepts. And is any one in my presence to 
be making signs to my mistress ? And am I to endure it ? And 
is not my anger to hurry me away to any extreme ? Her own 
husband 6? (I remember it well) gave her a kiss ; I complained 
of kisses being given ; my love is brimful of fierceness. Not 
once alone has this failing proved an injury to me ; he is more 
skilful, by whose encouragement other men visit es his mistress. 
But 'tis still better to know nothing of it. Allow stealthy in- 
trigues to he concealed, lest the blush of confession should 
fly in future from her countenance when detected. 

With greater reason then, ye youths, forbear to detect your 
mistresses. Let them be guilty ; and guilty, let them suppose 
that they have deceived you. When detected, the passion in- 
creases ; when the fortune of the two is the same, each per- 
sists in the cause of the disgrace. There is a story told, 
very well known in all the heavens, hoiv Mars and Venus 69 were 
caught by the contrivance of Mulciber. Father Mars, distracted 
by a frantic passion for Venus, from a terrible warrior, became 
a lover. Neither did Venus (for, indeed, no Goddess is there 
more kind) proved coy or stubborn to Gradivus. how many 

65 Of mighty Jove.] — Ver. 540. He alludes to the triumphal procession 
to the Capitol. 

66 Gentle sleep.] — Ver. 546. See the Arnores, Book iii. El. i. 1. 51. He 
means to say that husbands give a certain latitude to their wives, who do 
not fail to improve upon it. 

67 Own husband.'] — Ver. 551. See the Amores, Book i. El. iv. 1. 38. 

66 Other men visit.] — Ver. 554. 'Viri' seems to be a better reading 
than ' viro.' 

t9 Mars and Venus.] — Ver. 562. See the Metamorphoses, Book iv. 
1. 173. 



428 AES AMATOKIA ; [b. ii. 567—598. 

a time is she said, in her wantonness, to have laughed at the 
feet of her husband, and at his hands, hardened with the fire 
or his handicraft. In the presence of Mars, mocking him, she 
imitated her husband, and she was beauteous even while so 
doing ; and many a grace was there combined with her charms. 
But they were in the habit of skilfully concealing their early 
intercourse ; and their frailty was replete with modest pro- 
priety. Through the information of the Sun (who is there 
that can deceive the Sun ?), the actions of his wife became 
known to Vulcan. Thou Sun, what a bad example thou art 
setting! Ask a bribe of her; and shouldst thou hold thy 
tongue, she has a favour which she may grant to thee. 

Around and above the bed, Mulciber disposes the hidden 
toils ; the work, by its fineness, escapes their eyes. He pre- 
tends a journey to Lemnos ; the lovers come, according to the 
appointment ; entangled in the toils, they both He naked. He 
calls the Gods together ; the captives afford a spectacle. 
People believe that Venus could hardly restrain her tears. 
They cannot conceal their faces ; they cannot, in fact, veil their 
modesty with their hands. Upon this, one says, laughing, 70 
" Transfer to me thy chains, most valiant Mavors, if they are 
a burden to thee." With difficulty, Neptune, at thy entreaty, 
does he release their captured bodies. Mars makes for Thrace, 71 
and she for Paphos. 72 This, Vulcan, was done by thee ; what 
before they used to conceal, they now do more openly, since all 
modesty is gone. Yet often, foolish one, dost thou confess that 
thou didst act unwisely ; and they say that thou hast repented 
of thy wrath. This I have already forbidden : lo ! Dione 
forbids you to suffer that detection which she herself endured. 
And do you arrange no toils for your rival ; and intercept no 
words written by the hand in secret. Let the men seek for 
those, (if, indeed, they think they ought to be sought for) 
whom the fire and water render 73 lawful husbands. 

70 Says, laughing.] — Ver, 585. See a similar passage in the Metamor- 
phoses, Book iv. 1. 187. 

71 For Thrace.] — Ver. 588. He was much venerated by the warlike 
Thracians. 

72 Paphos.]— Ver. 588. See the Metamorphoses, Book x. 1. 298. 

73 Fire and water render.] — Ver. 598. Among the Romans, when the 
bride reached her husband's house, he received her with fire and water, 
which it was the custom for her to touch. This is, by some, supposed to 



B. II. 599—626.] OR, THE ART OE LOVE. 429 

Behold ! again do I protest ; no sportive subject is here 
treated of, but what is permitted by the laws ; there is no 
matron concerned with my sallies. 74 Who would dare to publish 
to the profane the rites of Ceres, 75 and the great mysteries 
that were established in the Thracian Samos 1 'Tis a small 
merit to hold one's silence upon matters ; but, on the other 
hand, 'tis a grievous fault to speak of things on which we 
should be silent. justly does it happen, that the blabbing 
Tantalus is thirsting in the midst of the water, the apples on 
the tree being caught at by him in vain ! Cytherea especially 
bids her rites to be concealed. I recommend no talkative 
person to approach them. 

If the mysteries of Venus are not enclosed in chests, 76 and 
if the hollow cymbals do not resound with frantic blows ; al- 
though among ourselves they are celebrated by universal cus- 
tom, yet it is in such a manner that among us they demand 
concealment. Venus herself, as oft as she lays her garments 
aside, conceals her groin with the left hand, 77 a little bent 
back. The cattle couple in public and promiscuously ; even 
when this is seen, full oft the fair one turns away her face. 
Chambers and doors are provided for our stealthy dalliance; 
and our nakedness lies concealed by garments placed over it. 
And if we do not require darkness, still we do something of a 
retired shade, and something less exposed than open day. In 
those times, even, when tiles did not as yet keep out the sun 
and the shower, but the oak was affording both shelter and 
food ; in the groves and caves, and not in the open air, were 
shared the delights of love. So great was the regard for 
modesty, even in a savage race. But now-a-days we give praises 
to the exploits of the night ; and nothing beyond the power of 

have been symbolical of purification ; or it was an expression of welcome, 
as the interdiction of fire and water was the formula for banishment. 

74 My sallies.]— Ver. 600. See Book i. 1. 31, and the Note. See also 
the Fasti, Book iv. 1. 866, and the Note. 

75 The rites of Ceres.] — Ver. 601. He alludes to the mysterious rites 
of Ceres, in the island of Samothrace. 

76 Not enclosed in chests.] — Ver. 609. Certain chests were carried in 
the procession at the festival of Ceres, the contents of which, if there 
were any, was a mystery to the uninitiated. 

H The left hand.]— Ver. 614. This is the attitude of the Venus de 
Medicis. 



430 AKS AMATORIA ; [b. ii. 626—657 

talking of it, is purchased at a heavy price. 7 * You will, for- 
sooth, be discussing all the damsels in every quarter, that you 
may say to every person, " She, too, has been mine," that none 
may be wanting for you to point at with your fingers ; 
and as you touch upon each, there will be a scandalous tale. 
But I am complaining of trifles ; some pretend things, which, 
if true, they would deny, and not declare that there is not a 
woman from whom they have not received the last favour. If 
they cannot meddle with their persons, so far as they can, they 
meddle with their names ; and, their persons untouched, their 
reputation bears the blame. 

Go now, odious keeper, and shut the doors of the fair : 
and add to the solid door-posts a hundred bars. What safety 
is there, while the denier of character exists, and desires to be 
thought that he is that which it has not proved his lot to be ? 
Even my real amours I confess but with reserve, and my se- 
cret intrigues are concealed with sure fidelity. Especially 
forbear to censure the blemishes of the fair ; to many it has 
proved of advantage to conceal them. Her complexion was 
not made an objection against Andromeda by him, on whose 
two feet were the waving wings. 79 To all others Andromache 
seemed of larger stature 80 than was becoming; Hector was 
the only one who called her of moderate size. What you 
endure with impatience, accustom yourself to ; and you will 
endure it with patience. Length of time makes many things 
endurable ; but a rising passion catches sight of everything. 
While the young branch is uniting within the green bark, 81 
whatever breeze shakes it while now tender, it falls. Soon, har- 
dened in time, the same tree will stoutly resist the winds, and 
bear the adopted fruit. 

Time itself removes all blemishes from the person ; and 
what was a fault, in lapse of time ceases so to be. The nos- 
trils that are unaccustomed to it, are not able to endure the 
hides of bulls ; the odour is not perceived by those that have 
been rendered used to it in length of time. We may palliate 

78 At a heavy price. ,] — Ver. 626. Men spend their money on debauch- 
ery, only for the pleasure of talking of it. 

79 Waving wings.] — Yer. 644. He refers to Perseus admiring the 
swarthy Andromeda. 

80 Of larger stature.] — Ver. 645. She was remarkable for her height. 

81 Green bark.] — Ver. 639. He speaks of the slip engrafted in the 
stock. 



B. H. 657—686.] OB, THE AET OF LOVE. 431 

faults by names ; let her be called swarthy, whose blood is 
blacker than .the pitch of Illyria. If she has a cast in the 
eyes, she is like Venus : if yellow haired, like Minerva. She 
that is only half alive through her leanness, let her be grace- 
ful. Whatever woman is small, say that she is active ; her 
that is gross, call plump ; and let each fault lie concealed in 
its proximity to some good quality. 

And don't you enquire what year she is now passing, nor 
under what Consulship s2 she was bom ; a privilege which the 
rigid Censor 83 possesses. And this, especially, if she has passed 
the bloom of youth, and her best years 84 are fled, and she 
now pulls out the whitening hairs. This age, youths, or even 
one more advanced, has its advantages ; this soil will produce 
its crops, this is worth the sowing. While strength and years 
permit, endure labour ; soon will bending old age come with 
silent foot. Either cleave the ocean with the oars, or the earth 
with the plough ; or turn your warlike hands to cruel arms ; or 
devote your strength and your attention to the fair. This, 
too, is a kind of warfare ; 85 this, too, seeks its advantages. Be- 
sides, in these S6 there is a greater acquaintance with their sub- 
ject ; and there is long practice, which alone renders skilful. 
By attention to dress they repair the ravages of years ; and by 
carefulness they cause themselves not to appear aged. 

Utque velis, Venerem jungunt per mille figuras. 

Inveniat plures nulla tabella modos. 
Illis sentitur non irritata voluptas : 

Quod juvet, ex iequo fcemina virque ferant. 
Odi concubitus, qui non utrumque resolvunt ; 

Hoc est, cur pueri tangar amore minus. 
Odi quse prsebet, quia sit praebere necesse ; 

Siccaque de lana cogitat ipsa sua. 

82 What Consulship. .] — Ver. 663. The age of persons was reckoned by 
naming the Consulship in which they were born ; the period of which was 
known by reference to the ' Fasti Consulares.' See the Introduction to the 
Fasti. 

83 Rigid Censor,'] — Ver. 664. It was the duty of the Censor to make 
enquiries into the age of all individuals.- 

84 Best years.'] — Ver. 666. Even in those days, it was considered un- 
gallant to make too scrutinizing enquiries into the years of ladies of ' a 
certain age.' 

85 Kind of warfare.] — Ver. 674. See the Amores, Book i. El. ix. 1. 1. 

86 Besides in these.] — Ver. 675. In reference to females of a more ad- 
vanced age. 



4 32 ARS AMATOBIA; [b. n. 687— 712. 

Quae datur officio, non est mihi grata voluptas, 

Officium faciat nulla puella mihi. 
Me voces audire juvat sua gaudia fassas : 

Utque morer memet, sustineamque roget. 
Aspiciam dominae victos amentis ocellos. 

Langueat ; et tangi se vetet ilia diu. 

Those advantages has nature given not to early youth, which 
are wont to spring up soon after seven times five years 87 have 
passed. Those who are in a hurry, let them drink of new 
wine ; for me let the cask, stored up in the times 88 of ancient 
Consuls, pour forth the wine of my ancestors. No plane-tree 
but a mature one is able to withstand Phcebus ; the shooting 
grass, 89 too, hurts the tender feet. And could you, forsooth, 
have preferred Hermione 90 to Helen? And was Gorge 91 more 
attractive than her mother ? Whoever you are that wish to 
enjoy matured passion, if you only persevere, you will obtain 
a fitting reward. 

Conscius ecce duos accepit lectus amantes : 

Ad thalami clausas, Musa, resiste fores. 
Sponte sua, sine te, celo»berrima verba loquentur : 

Nee manus in lecto heva jacebit iners. 
Invenient digiti, quod agant in partibus illis, 

In quibus occulte spicula figit Amor. 
Fecit in Andromache prius hoc fortissimus Hector ; 

Nee solum bellis utilis ille fuit. 
Fecit et in capta Lyrneside magnus Achilles, 

Cum premeret mollem lassus ab hoste torum. 

87 Seven times Jive years.'] — Ver. 694. He probably means, in this 
passage, a lustrum of five years. Burmann justly observes, that ' cito,' 
'quickly,' or 'soon,' can hardly be the proper reading, as it seems to con- 
tradict the meaning of tbe context. He suggests ' nisi/ meaning ' but,' 
or ' only.' See the Fasti, Book hi. 1. 166, and the Note, Also the Tristia, 
Book iv. El. xvi. 1. 78. 

88 Stored up in the times.'] — Ver. 696. He uses this metaphorical ex- 
pression to signify that he admires females when of a ripe and mature age 
See the Amores, Book ii. El. v. 1. 54, and the Note. 

89 The shooting grass.] — Ver. 698. In Nisard's translation, the words 
• prata novella ' are rendered ' 1' herbe nouvellement coupee,' ' the grass 
newly cut.' This is not the meaning of the passage. He intends to say 
that the grass just shooting up is apt to cut or prick the naked foot. 

30 Herrnione.] — Ver. 699. She was the daughter of Helen and Menelaiis. 
91 Gorge.] — Ver. 700. She was the daughter of Althea, and sister of 
Meleager, She married Andrsemon. 



B. II. 713—746.] OE, THE AET OE LOVE. 433 

Illis, te tangi manibus, Brisei, sinebas, 

Imbutae Phrygia quse nece semper erant. 
An fuit hoc ipsum, quod te lasciva juvaret 

Ad tua victrices membra venire manus ? 
Crede mihi, non est Veneris properanda voluptas : 

Sed sensim tarda prolicienda mora. 
Cum loca repereris, quse tangi fcemina gaudet ; 

Non obstet, tangas quo minus ilia, pudor. 
Adspicies oculos tremulo fulgore micantes, 

Ut sol a liquida ssepe refulget aqua. 
Accedent questus, accedet amabile murmur, 

Et dulces gemitus, aptaque verba loco. 
Sed neque tu dominam veils majoribus usus 

Desine ; nee cursus anteat ilia tuos. 
Ad nietam properate simul ; turn plena voluptas, 

Cum pariter victi foemina virque jacent. 
Hie tibi servandus tenor est, cum libera dantur 

Otia ; furtivum nee timor urget opus. 
Cum mora non tuta est, totis incumbere remis 

Utile, et admisso subdere calcar equo. 

There is an end now of my task ; grant me the palm, ye 
grateful youths, and present the myrtle garlands to my per- 
fumed locks. As great as was Podalirius 92 among the Greeks 
in the art of healing, as the descendant of JEacus with his 
right hand, as Nestor with his eloquence ; as great as Calchas 93 
was in soothsaying, as the son of Telamon was in arms, as 
Autoniedon 94 was in guiding the chariot, so great a lover am I. 
Celebrate me as your bard, ye men, to me repeat my praises ; 
let my name be sung throughout all the earth. Arms have I 
given to you; to Achilles Vulcan gave arms. With the gifts 
presented to you, prove victorious, as he proved victorious. 
But whoever subdues the Amazon with my weapons, let him 
inscribe upon his spoil 95 — " Naso was my preceptor." 

And lo ! the charming fair are asking me to give them my 
precepts. You then shall be the next care of my song. 

92 Podalirius.']— -Ver. 735. The brother of Machaon. See the Tristia, 
Book v. El. xiii. 1. 32. 

93 Calchas.1 — Ver. 737. See the Metamorphoses, Book xii. 1. 19. 

M Jutomedon.] — Ver. 738. The son of Diores. He was the charioteer 
of Achilles. 

95 Upon his spoil.'] — Ver. 744. It was the custom to write inscriptions 
on the spoil. See the Notes to the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 663. 

F F 



BOOK THE THIRD. 



With arms against the Amazons I have furnished the Greeks. 
Arms remain for me to present, Penthesilea, 1 to thee and to thy 
squadrons. Go to the combat equally prepared ; and may 
those prove the victors, whom genial Dione 2 favours, and the 
Boy who flies over the whole world. It was not fair for the 
females unprotected to engage with the men in arms, and so 
it would have been disgraceful for you to conquer, ye men. 

One of the multitude may say, " Why add venom to 
the serpent ? And why deliver the sheep-fold to the ravening 
wolf? Forbear to lay the culpability of the few upon the 
many ; and let each fair one be considered according to her 
own deserts. If the younger son of Atreus has Helen, 
and the elder son of Atreus 3 has the sister of Helen, to 
charge with criminality; if the son of (Eclus, 4 through the 
wickedness of Eriphyle, daughter of Talaion, alive, and with 
living steeds, descended to Styx ; there is Penelope con- 
stant, while her husband was wandering for twice five 
years, and for as many years engaged in war. Witness the 
hero from Phylace, 5 and her who is said to have descended 
as the companion of her husband, and to have died before her 
destined years. The wife from Pagasse redeemed the son of 
Pheres 6 from death, and in place of 7 the funeral of her hus- 
band, the wife was carried out. " Receive me, Capaneus ; 
we will mingle our ashes ;" said the daughter of Iphis, and 

1 Penthesilea.']— -Ver. 2. See the 21st Epistle, 1. 118, and the Note. 

2 Dione.] — Ver. 3. See the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 461, and the Note. 

3 Son of Atreus.]— Ver. 11. Helen was unfaithful to Menelaiis, while 
Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon. 

4 Son of (Eclus.] — Ver. 13. See the Metamorphoses, Book viii. 1. 317, 
and the Note. 

5 From Phylace.] — Ver. 17. See the Epistle of Laodamia to Protesilaiis. 

6 Son of Pheres.]— Ver. 19. See the Pontic Epistles, Book iii. El. i. 
1. 106, and the Note. 

7 And in place of] — Ver. 20. See the 111th line of the same Elegy, 
and the Note. Also the Tristia, Book v. El. xiv. 1. 38. 



B. in. 22—51.] AES AMATOKIA. 435 

she leapt on the midst of the pile. Virtue, herself, too, is a 
female, both in dress and name. 'Tis not to be wondered at, 
if she favours her own sex. 

But still, 'tis not such dispositions as these that are re- 
quired by my art. Sails of less .magnitude are befitting my 
skiff. s Nothing but wanton dalliance is taught by me ; in 
what manner a woman is to be loved, I purpose to teach. 
The woman repels neither the flames, nor the cruel bow ; 
those weapons, I see, make less havoc among the men. Many 
a time do the men prove false ; not often the charming fair ; 
and, if you make inquiry, they have but few charges of fraud 
against them. Jason, the deceiver, repudiated the Phasian, 
when now a mother ; and into the bosom of the son of iEson 
there came another bride. 9 Ariadne, left alone in an unknown 
spot, had fed the sea-birds, so far, Theseus, as thou wast 
concerned. Enquire why she is said to have gone on her 
nine journies, 10 and hear how the woods lamented Phyllis, their 
foliage laid aside. And Elissa, she has the credit of affection ; 
and still, that guest of thine, Elissa, afforded both the sword 
and the cause for thy destruction. Shall I tell what it was 
that ruined thee ? Thou didst not know how to love ; thou 
wast wanting in skill ; through skill, love flourishes for ever. 

Even still would they have been ignorant, but Cytherea 
commanded me to instruct them, and stood, herself, before 
my eyes. Then to me she said, " Why have the unfortunate 
fair deserved this ? An unarmed multitude is handed over to 
the men in arms. Two treatises 11 have rendered them skilful ; 
this side, as well, must be instructed by thy advice. He who 
before had uttered 12 reproaches against the wife from Therapnee, 
soon sang her praises to a more fortunate lyre. If well I 

3 My sJciff.]—Ytx. 26. ' Cymba.' See the Amores, Book iii. El, vi. 
1. 4, and the Note. 

9 Another bride.'] — Ver. 34. Jason deserted Medea for Creiisa. 

10 Nine journies.]— Yer. 37. See the Epistle of Phyllis to Demophoon. 

11 Two treatises.] — Ver. 47. His former books on the Art of Love. 

12 Who before had uttered.]— Yer. 49. He alludes to the Poet Stesi- 
chorus, on whose lips a nightingale was said to have perched and sung, 
when he was a child. Pliny relates that he wrote a poem, inveighing bit- 
terly against Helen, in which he called her the firebrand of Troy, on 
which he was visited with blindness by her brothers, Castor and Pollux, 
and did not recover his sight till he had recanted in his Palinodia, which 
he composed in her praise. Suidas says, that Stesichorus composed thirty- 
six books of Poems. Helen was born at Therapnae, a town of Lace 

rr 2 



436 ARS AMATOKIA ; [b. III. 51—79. 

know thee, injure not the fair whom thou dost adore ; their 
favour must be sought by thee so long as thou shalt live." 

Thus she said ; and from the myrtle (for she was standing 
with her locks wreathed with myrtle) she gave me a leaf and 
a few berries. Receiving them, I was sensible of the divine 
influence as well ; the sky shone with greater brightness, and 
all care departed from my breast. While she inspires 
my genius ; hence receive the precepts, ye fair, which 
propriety, and the laws, and your own privileges, 13 allow you. 
Even now, be mindful of old age, that one day will come ; 
then will no time be passed by you in idleness. Disport your- 
selves, while yet you may, and while &ven now you confess 
to your true years ; after the manner of the flowing stream, 
do the years pass by. Neither shall the water which has past 
by, be ever recalled ; nor can the hour which has past, ever re- 
turn. You must employ your youthful age ; with swift step 
age is gliding on ; and that which follows, is not so pleasing as 
that which having passed was charming. Those brakes, which 
are withering, I have beheld as beds of violets ; from amid 
those brambles, has a beauteous chaplet been gathered for 
myself. 

The time will be, when you, who are now shutting oiit a 
lover, will be lying, an old woman, chilled in the lonely 
night. No door 14 of yours will be broken open in the broils 
of the night ; nor will you find in the morning your threshold 
bestrewed with roses. 15 How soon, ah me ! are our bodies 
pursed with wrinkles, and that colour which existed in the 
beauteous face, fades away ! The grey hairs, too, which you 
might have sworn that you had had from childhood, will 
suddenly be sprinkled over all your head. Old age is thrown 
off by serpents, together with the light slough ; and the shed- 
ding of their horns makes the stags not to be old. Our 

13 Your own. privileges. ] — Ver. 58. ' Sua' seems to mean the privileges 
sanctioned and conceded by the law, probably to those females 'who were 
in the number of the ' professae.' 

14 No door.'] — Ver. 71. So Horace says, in his address to Lydia, Book i. 
Ode i. 25 ; ' Less frequently do the wanton youths shake your joined 
windows with many a blow, and no longer deprive thee of sleep, and the 
door adheres to its threshold.' 

15 Bestrewed with roses.] — Ver. 72. See line 528 in the last Book. 
Lucretius speaks of the admirers of damsels anointing their doors with an 
ointment made of sweet marjorum. 



B. in. 79—109.] OK, THE AET OF LOVE. 4.37 

advantages fly irretrievably ; pluck the flowers then ; if they 
be not plucked, they will lamentably fade themselves to your 
sorrow. Besides, child-bearing makes the hours of youth 
more short-lived ; with continual crops the soil waxes old. 

Endymion of Latmus, Moon, causes not thee to blush ; 
nor was Cephalus a prey for the rosy Goddess to be ashamed 
of. Though Adonis be allowed to Venus, whom she yet 
laments ; whence had she iEneas and Hermione 16 for her chil- 
dren ? Follow, race of mortals, the example of the God- 
desses ; and refuse not your endearments to the eager men. 
Even should they deceive you, what do you lose ? All remains 
the same. "Were a thousand to partake thereof, nothing is 
wasted thereby. Iron is worn away, stones are consumed by 
use ; your persons are proof against all apprehension of 
detriment. Who would forbid light to be taken from another 
light presented ? Or who, on the deep sea, would hoard up the 
expanse of waters? "But 'tis not right," you say, " for any 
woman to grant favours to a man." Tell me, what are you 
losing but the water, which you may take up again ? 17 Nor 
are my words urging you to prostitution ; but they are for- 
bidding you to fear evils that do not exist : your favours are 
exempt from loss to yourselves. 

But while I am in harbour, let a gentle breeze impel me, 
destined to sail with the blasts of a stronger gale. I begin 
with dress : 18 from the well-dressed vine Bacchus has birth ; and 
in the well-dressed field the high corn springs up. Beauty 
is the gift of the Divinity ; how many a one prides herself 
on her beauty? Still, a great part 19 of you is wanting in 
such endowments. Care will confer charms ; charms neglected 
will perish, even though she be like the Idalian Goddess. If 
the fair of olden times did not pay such attention to their 
persons ; neither had the ancients men so well-dressed. If 

16 Hermione.'] — Ver. 86. According to Hesiod, Venus was the mother 
of three children by Mars, of whom Hermione was one. 

17 May take up again.'] — Ver. 98. This is not the proper translation 
of the passage ; but the real meaning cannot be presented with a due 
regard to decorum. 

18 / begin with dress.] — Ver. 101. He plays upon the different meanings 
of the word ' cultus' ; which means either ' dress,' or ' cultivation,' ac- 
cording as it is applied, to persons or land. 

19 J great part.] — Ver. 104. This is a more ungallant remark than 
we should have expected Ovid to make. 



438 ARS AMATORIA ; [b. hi. 109—140. 

Andromache was clad in a coarse tunic, what wonder is it ? 
She was the wife of a hardy soldier. And would his com- 
panion, forsooth, come bedecked to Ajax, him whose covering 
was seven hides of oxen. Formerly a rustic simplicity 
existed : now gorgeous Rome possesses the wealth of the sub- 
dued earth. See the Capitol, what it now is and what it was, 
you would declare that they belonged to different Jupiters. 
The Senate-house, which is now right worthy of an assem- 
blage so august, when Tatius held the sway, was made of 
straw. The fields of the Palatine hill, which are now resplen- 
dent in honour of Phcebus 20 and our rulers, what were they 
but pastures for the oxen that ploughed ? 

Let old times delight others : I congratulate myself that I 
am born thus late ; this is the age that is suited to my 
tastes. Not because the pliable gold is now dug out of the 
earth, and choice shells 21 come here from foreign shores ; nor 
yet because, the marble cut out, mountains diminish; nor 
yet because the azure waves are kept out by the moles. 22 But 
because civilization prevails; and because the rude manners 
that flourished with our ancient forefathers have not come 
down to our days. 

But do not you as well load your ears with precious stones, 
which the tawny Indian seeks in the green waves. And do 
not go forth heavily loaded with clothes embroidered with 
gold : by the wealth through which you seek to attract us, 
you often drive us away. By neatness we are captivated ; let 
not your hair be without arrangement ;' the hands applied to it 
both give beauty and deny it. The method, too, of adorning 
is not a single one ; let each choose the one that is becoming it 
to her, and let her first consult her mirror. An oval face 
becomes a parting upon the unadorned head : Laodamia had 
her hair thus arranged. Round features 23 require a little knot 
to be left for them on the top of the head, so that the ears 

20 Of Phoebus.']— -Ver. 119. He alludes to the temple of Apollo, on tlie 
Palatine Hill, where Augustus and Tiberius resided. 

21 And choice shells.] — Ver. 124. He alludes to pearls which grow in 
the shell of the pearl oyster, and are found in the Persian Gulf and the 
Indian Ocean. 

22 By the moles.] — Ver. 126. He alludes to the stupendous moles which 
the Romans fabricated, as breakwaters, at their various bathing-places on 
the coast of Italy. See the Odes of Horace, Book iii. ode 1. 

- 3 Mound features.] — Ver. 139. See the Pontic Epistles, Book iii. 
Ep. iii. 1. 15, and the Note. 



B. ill. 140—166.] OE, TIE AJST OF LOYE. 439 

may be exposed. Let the hair of another be thrown over 
either shoulder. In such guise art thou, tuneful Phoebus, thy 
lyre being assumed. Let another have her hair tied behind 
after the manner of well-girt Diana, as she is wont when she 
hunts the scared wild beasts. It becomes another to have her 
floating locks to flow loosely: another must be bound hy fillets 
over her fastened tresses. Another it delights to be adorned 
with the figure of the tortoise 24 of the Cyllenian God : let 
another keep up her curls that resemble the waves. 25 

But neither will you count the acorns on the branching 
native oak, nor how many bees there are in Hybla, nor how 
many wild beasts on the Alps : nor am I able to comprehend 
in numbers so many modes ; each successive day brings a 
new fashion. Even neglected locks are becoming to many; 
often would you suppose that they are lying neglected since 
yesterday ; the very moment before they have been combed 
afresh. Let art imitate chance. 'Twas thus that, in the 
captured city, when Hercules beheld Iole ; " Her," said he, 
" do I love." In such guise, deserted fair one of Gnossus, 
did Bacchus bear thee away in his chariot, while the Satyrs 
shouted Evoe ! how indulgent is nature to your beauty, 
whose blemishes can be atoned for in fashions so numerous ! 
We men, to our misfortune, become bald ; and our hair, car- 
ried away by time, falls off, like Boreas shaking down the 
leaves. 

The female stains her grey hair with the herbs from 
Germany; 26 and by art a colour is sought superior to the 
genuine one. The female walks along, thickly covered with 
purchased hair ; and for money 27 she makes that of others her 

24 Figure of the tortoise.'] — Ver. 147. Salmasius thinks that the 
1 galerus,' or ' wig of false hair,' is alluded to in this passage. Others 
think that a coif or fillet of net-work is alluded to. He probably means 
a mode of dressing the hah in the shape of a lyre, with horns on each 
side projecting outwards. Mercury, the inventor of the lyre, was born on 
Mount Cyllene, in Arcadia. 

26 The waves.] — Ver. 148. Juvenal mentions a mode of dressing the 
hair to a great height by rows of false curls. 

26 The herbs from Germany.] — Ver. 163. He alludes, probably, to herbs 
brought from Germany, which were burnt for the purpose of making a 
soap used in turning the hair of a blonde colour. See the Amores, 
Book i. El. xiv. 1. 1, and the Note. 

27 For money.] — Ver. 166. See 1. 45 of the above Elegy. 



440 ARS AMATOJJA; [b. in. 166— 189. 

own. Nor is she ashamed to buy it openly : we see it being 
sold before the eyes of Hercules 28 and the Virgin throng. 

What am I to say on clothing ? Gold flounces, 29 I have no 
need of you ; nor you, the wool which dost blush twice dipt 
in Tyrian purple. Since so many colours can be procured at 
a lower price, what folly it is to be carrying a fortune on one's 
person. 30 Lo ! there is the colour of the sky, at the time when 
the sky is without clouds, and the warm South wind is not 
summoning the showers of rain. Lo ! there is the colour 
like to thee, that art said 31 once to have borne away Phryxus 
and Helle from the treachery of Ino. That which resembles 
the waves, 32 has its name, too, from the waves ; I could ima- 
gine that the Nymphs are clad in vestments of this colour. 
Another resembles saffron; in saffron-coloured garments is the 
dewy Goddess dressed, when she yokes her steeds that bear the 
light of day. Another resembles the Paphian myrtles ; another 
the purple amethysts, or the white roses, or the Thracian crane. 
Neither are there wanting, Amaryllis, 33 thy chesnuts, nor yet al- 
monds ; and wax 34 has given its own name to woollen textures. 

As many as the flowers which the renewed earth pro- 
duces, when in warm spring the vine puts forth its buds, and 
sluggish winter retreats ; so many, or still more, shades of 
dye does the wool imbibe. Choose them by rule ; for every 
colour will not be suitable to every complexion* Black be- 

28 The eyes of Hercules.] — Ver. 168. He means that the wig-makers' 
shops were in the neighbourhood of the Temple of Hercules Musagetes, 
in the Flaminian Circus. See the Sixth Book of the Fasti, 1. 801. 

29 Gold flounces. ] — Ver. 169. ' Segmenta' are probably broad flounces 
to the dresses inlaid with plates of gold, or gold threads embroidered on 
them. 

30 On one's person.] — Ver. 127. Like our expression, 'To carry a for- 
tune on one's back/ 

31 That art said] — Ver. 175. He refers to the colour of the Ram with 
the Golden Fleece, that bore Helle and Phryxus over the Hellespont. 

33 Resembles the waves.] — Ver. 177. He evidently alluded to dresses 
which resemble the surface of the waves, and which we term ' watered' ; 
and which the Romans called ' undulatae,' from ' unda,' a ' wave.' Varro 
makes mention of ' undulatae togae.' Some Commentators, however, fancy 
that he alludes here to colour, meaning * glaucus, ' or ' sea-green,' which 
Lucretius also calls ' thalassinus.' 

33 Amaryllis.]— -V "er. 183. See the last Book, 1. 267, and the Note. 

34 And wax.] — Ver. 184. Plautus mentions the ' Carinarii,' who dyed 
garments of a waxen, or yellow-colour. 



B. m, 189—206.] OR, THE AET OF LOVE. 441 

comes those of fair complexion : black became the daughter 
of Brises. When she was carried off, then, too, was she clothed 
in a dark garment. White befits the swarthy ; in white, 
daughter of Cepheus, thou wast charming; by thee, thus 
clothed, was Seriphos 35 trodden. 

How nearly was I recommending you that there should be 
no shocking goat 36 in the armpits, and that your legs should 
not be rough with harsh hair. But I am not instructing 
fair ones from the crags of Caucasus, and who are drinking, 
Mysian Ca'icus, of thy waves. Besides; need I to recommend 
that idleness should not blacken your teeth, and that your 
mouth ought to be washed each morning with water used for 
the purpose. You know, too, how to find whiteness in an 
application of wax ; 37 she who is blushing with no real blood, 
is blushing by the aid of art. With skill do you fill up the 
bared edges of the eye-brows, 38 and the little patch 39 covers 
your cheeks in all their genuineness. 'Tis no harm, too, to 
mark the eyes 40 slightly with ashes ; or with saffron, produced, 
beauteous Cydnus, near to thee. I have a little treatise, 41 but 

35 Seriphos.] — Ver. 192. See the Metamorphoses, Book v. 1. 242, and 
the Note. 

36 Shocking goat.]— Vex. 193. See the Note to 1. 522 of the First Book. 

37 Application of wax.] — Ver. 199. Wax is certainly used as a cos- 
metic, but ' creta' seems to be a preferable reading, as chalk in a powdered 
state was much used for adding to the fairness of the complexion. Ovid 
would hardly recommend a cosmetic of so highly injurious a tendency as 
melted wax. 

33 The eye-brows.] — Ver. 201. We learn from Juvenal, that the colour 
of them was heightened by punctures with a needle being filled with soot. 

39 And the little patch.] — Ver. 202. 'Aluta' means ' skin made soft 
by means of alum.' It is difficult to discover what it means here, whether 
• a patch ' made of a substance like gold-beater's skin, somewhat similar 
to those used in the days of the Spectator ; or a liquid cosmetic, such as 
Pliny calls ' calliblepharum,' ' an aid to the eye-brows.' He seems to 
use the word ' sinceras ' in its primitive sense, ' without wax' ; which re- 
commendation certainly would contradict the common reading, ' cera,' in 
the 199th line. 

40 To mark the eyes.] — Ver. 203. To heighten the colour of the eye- 
lashes, ashes (and probably charcoal) were used by the Roman women. 
Saffron also was used. A black paint, made of pulverized antimony, is 
used by the women in the East, at the present day, to paint their eye- 
brows black. It is called ' surme,' and was also used at ancient Rome. 
Cydnus was a river of Cilicia. 

41 A little treatise] — Ver. 205. He alludes to his book, ' On the care 
of the Complexion,' of whicl a fragment remains. 



442 AES AMATORIA ; [b. hi. 206—230. 

through the care bestowed, a great work, in which I have 
mentioned the various recipes for your beauty. From that 
as well, do you seek aid for your diminished charms : my 
skill is not idle in behalf of your interests. 

But let not your lover discover the boxes exposed upon the 
table ; art, by its concealment only, gives aid to beauty. Whom 
would not the paint disgust, besmeared all ov*er your face, when, 
through its own weight, it flows and falls upon your heated 
bosom? Why is the smell of the cesypum 42 so powerful, 
sent from Athens though it be, an extract drawn from the 
filthy fleece of the sheep 1 Nor would I recommend you in 
his presence to apply the mixture of the marrow of the deer, 43 
nor before him to clean your teeth. These things will give 
you good looks, but they will be unbecoming to be seen ; 
there are many things, too, which, disgusting while being 
done, add charms when done. The statues which now bear 
the name of the laborious Myron, 44 were once a sluggish weight 
and a solid mass. That the ring may be made, the gold is 
first beaten ; the clothes, that you are wearing, were once dirty 
wool. While it was being wrought, it was hard stone ; now, 
as a beautiful statue, 45 naked Venus is wringing the moisture 
from her dripping locks. 

You, too, while you are dressing, let us suppose to be asleep ; 
after the finishing hand, you will be seen much more apropos. 
Why is the cause of the fairness of your complexion known 
to me ? Shut the door of your chamber, why expose the 
work half done ? It is proper for the men to be in ignorance 
of many a thing. The greatest part of things would cause 

42 Of the cesypum.]— V er. 213. The filthy cosmetic called ' cesypum,' 
was prepared from the wool of those parts of the body where the sheep 
perspired most ; it was much used for embellishing the complexion. Pliny 
mentions the sheep of Athens as producing the best. It had a strong rank 
smell. The red colour, which was used by the Roman ladies for giving a 
bloom to the skin, was prepared from a moss called ' fucus' ; from which, 
in time, all kinds of paint received the name of ' fucus.' 

43 Of the deer.] — Ver. 215. Pliny speaks highly of the virtues of 
stag's marrow. It probably occupied much the same position in estima- 
tion, that bear's grease does at the present day. 

4i Myron.] — Ver. 219. There were two sculptors of this name: one 
a native of Lycia, the other of Eleuthera. 

45 Beautiful statue.] — Ver. 223. He alludes to that of Venus Anady- 
omene, or rising from the sea, which was made by Praxiteles, and was 
often copied by the sculptors of Greece and Rome. 



B. ill. 230—260.] OK, THE ART OF LOVE. 443 

disgust, if you were not to conceal what is within. Examine 
the gilded statues which hang in the decorated theatre ; 
how thin the tinsel that covers the wood. But it is not per- 
mitted the public to approach them unless completed; neither 
ought your charms to be heightened unless the men are at 
a distance. But I would not forbid you to allow your hair 
to be combed in tneir presence, so that it may he flowing 
along your back. Only take care especially on such occa- 
sions not to be cross ; and do not many times undo your hair, 
pulled down, when fastened up. Let your coiffeuse be with 
a whole skin. I detest her who tears the face of her attend- 
ant with her nails, and who, seizing the hair-pin, pierces her 
arms. 46 As she touches the head of her mistress, she curses 
it ; and at the same time, streaming with blood, she is crying 
over the odious locks. 

The fair one that has but little hair, let her set a watch on her 
threshold ; or let her always make her toilet in the temple 47 
of the Good Goddess. I was unexpectedly announced as 
having paid a visit to a certain lady ; in her confusion, she put 
on her locks the wrong side before. May a cause of shame 
so disgraceful fall to the lot of my foes, and may that dis- 
honour happen to the Parthian dames. A mutilated animal 
is repulsive, the fields without grass are repulsive ; and so is 
a shrub without foliage, and a head without hair. You have 
not come to be instructed by me, Semele, or Leda, thou, too, 
Sidonian fair, 48 who wast borne across the sea upon the ficti- 
tious bull; or Helen, whom, Menelaus,not without reason, thou 
didst demand to be restored to thee, and ivhom, not without 
reason, thou Trojan ravisher, didst retain. A multitude comes 
to be instructed, both pretty and ugly damsels ; and the un- 
sightly are ever more in number than the good-looking. 
The beauteous care less for the resources and the precepts of 
art ; they have their own endowments, charms that are power- 
ful without art. When the sea is calm, the sailor rests free 

46 Pierces her arms.] — Ver. 240. See a similar passage in the Amores. 
Book i. El. xiv. 1. 16. 

47 Toilet in the temple.'] — Ver. 244. He tells those who have not fine 
heads of hair, to he as careful in admitting any men to see their toilet, as 
the devotees of Bona Dea were to keep away all males from her solem- 
nities. 

43 Sidonian fair.] — Ver. 252. Europa was a Phoenician hy birth. 



444 AES AMATOEIA ; [b. hi. 260—278. 

from care ; when it becomes boisterous, he appeals to his 
own resources. 

Few, however, are the forms free from defect. Conceal your 
blemishes ; and, so far as you can, hide the imperfections of 
your person. If you are short, sit down ; that, while stand- 
ing, you may not appear to be sitting ; and if of a diminutive 
size, throw yourself upon your couch. Here, too, that your 
measure may not be able to be taken as you he, take care 
that your feet are concealed with the clothes 49 thrown over 
them. She who is too thin, let her wear clothes of thick 
texture ; and let her vestments hang loosely from her shoulders. 
Let her who is pale, tint her complexion with purple stripes ; 50 
do you that are more swarthy, have recourse to the aid of the 
Pharian fish. 51 Let an ill-shaped foot be always concealed in 
a boot of snow-white leather steeped in alum ; and do not un- 
loose their laced sandals from the spindly legs. For high 
shoulders, small pads are suitable ; 52 and let the girth 53 encircle 
the bosom that is too prominent. She whose fingers are dumpy, 
and whose nails are rough, should mark with but little gesture 
whatever is said. She, whose breath is strong smelling, should 
never talk with an empty stomach ; and she should always 
stand at a distance 54 from her lover's face. 

49 With the clothes.']— -Ver. 226. See the Araores, Book i. El. iv. 1. 48, 
and the Note. 

50 With purple stripes.'] — Ver. 269. Commentators are at a loss to 
know what ' tingere virgis' means ; some suggest, ' to wear garments with 
red ' virgae,' or 4 stripes,' while others think that it means ' to tint the skin 
with fine lines of a purple colour.' It is thought by some that vermilion 
is here alluded to, while others suppose that the juice of the red flowers, 
or berries of the ' vaccinium,' is meant. 

51 The Pharian fish.] — Ver. 270. The intestines and dung of the 
crocodile, ' the Pharian' or ' Egyptian fish,' are here referred to. We 
learn from Pliny that these substances were used by the females at Rome 
as a cosmetic, to add to the fairness of the complexion, and to take away 
freckles from the skin. 

52 Small pads are suitable.] — Ver. 273. ' Analectides,' or ' Analectrides,' 
(the correct reading is doubtful) were pads, or stuffings, of flock, used in 
cases of high shoulders or prominent shoulder-blades. 

53 And let the girth.] — Ver. 274. He alludes to the ' strophium,' 
which distantly resembled the stays of the present day, and was a girdle, 
or belt, worn by women round the breast and over the interior tunic or 
chemise. From an Epigram of Martial, it seems to have been usuaiiy 
made of leather. Becker thinks that there was a difference between the 
1 fascia ' and the ' strophium.' 

51 At a distance.] — Ver. 278. One of the very wisest of his suggestions. 



B. in. 278—311.] OK, THE AET OF LOYE. 445 

If your teeth are black, or large, or not growing straight, 
you will suffer very great inconvenience from laughing. Who 
could have supposed it ? The fair take lessons even in laugh- 
ing ; and even in that respect is gracefulness studied by them. 
Let your mouth be but moderately open ; let the dimples 
on either side be but small ; and let the extremity of the 
lips cover the upper part of the teeth. And do not let your 
sides be shaking with prolonged laughter ; but let them utter 
sounds gentle and feminine, to I know not what degree. Some 
there are, who distort their face with an unsightly grin ; an- 
other, when she is joyous in her laughter, you would take to 
be crying. Another makes a harsh noise, and screams in a 
disagreable manner ; just as the unsightly she-ass brays by 
the rough mill-stone. 

To what point does not art proceed ? Some study how 
to weep with grace, and cry at what time and in what 
manner they please. Nay, further ; when the letters are de- 
prived of their full sound, and the lisping tongue becomes 
contracted with an affected pronunciation ; then is grace 
sought in an imperfection ; to pronounce certain words badly, 
they learn to be less able to speak than they really are. 
To all these points, since they are of consequence, give atten- 
tion. Learn how to walk with steps suited to a female. Even 
in the gait, there are certain points of gracefulness not to be 
disregarded ; this both attracts and repels men who are 
strange to you. This fair one moves her sides with skill, and 
with her flowing tunics catches the breeze, and haughtily 
moves her extended feet. Another walks just like the red- 
faced spouse of some Umbrian 55 husband, and, straddling, 
takes huge strides. But, as in many other things, let there be 
a medium here as well ; one movement is clownish ; another 
movement will be too mincing in its gait. But let the lower 
part of your shoulders, and the upper part of your arm be 
bare, to be beheld from your left hand upwards. This is 
especially becoming to you, ye of fair complexion ; when I 
see this, I have always a longing to give a kiss to the shoulder, 
where it is exposed. 

The Sirens were monsters of the deep, which with their tune- 

55 Umbrian.'] — Ver. 303- The Umbrians were a people of the Marsi, 
in the north of Italy. They were noted for their courage, and the rusti- 
city of their manners. 



446 AES AMATOEIA; [b. hi. 311— 329- 

fill voices detained the ships, even though in full career. On 
hearing them, the son of Sisyphus 56 almost released his body 
from the mast ; for the wax 57 was melted in the ears of his 
companions. The voice is an insinuating quality ; let the fair 
learn how to sing. In place of beauty, her voice has proved 
the recommendation of many a woman. And sometimes let 
them repeat what they have heard in the marble theatres ; and 
sometimes the songs attuned to the measures of the Nile. 58 
Neither, in my way of thinking, ought a clever woman to be 
ignorant how to hold the plectrum 59 in her right hand, the 
lyre in her left. Orpheus of Rhodope with his lyre moved 
rocks, and wild beasts, and the lakes of Tartarus, and Cerberus 
the triple dog. At thy singing, most righteous avenger of thy 
mother, 60 the attentive stones built up the walls. The fish, 
(the well-known story of the lyre of Arion, 01 ) although he was 
dumb, is supposed to have been moved by his voice. Learn, 
too, to sweep the chords of the festive psaltery 62 with your 
two hands ; 'tis an instrument suited to amorous lays. 

Let the songs of Callimachus 63 be known to you, let those 

56 The son of Sisyphus.] — Ver. 313. He here alludes to a scandalous 
story among the ancients, that Ulysses was the son of Anticlea, hy Sisyphus 
the robber, who had carried her off, and not by Laertes, her husband. 

57 The wax.'] — Ver. 314. By the advice of Circe, Ulysses filled the 
ears of his companions with melted wax, that they might not hear the 
songs of the Sirens. 

66 The measures of the Nile.] — Ver. 318. These airs were sung by 
Egyptian girls, with voluptuous attitudes, and were much esteemed by the 
dissolute Romans. These Egyptian singers were, no doubt, the forerun- 
ners of the ' Alme ' of Egypt at the present day. The Nautch girls and 
Bayaderes of the East Indies are a kindred race. 

59 Plectrum.] — Ver. 319. See the Metamorphoses, Book ii. 1. 601, 
and the Note; also the Epistle of Briseis, 1. 118, and the Note. 

60 Thy mother.] — Ver.323. Amphion and Zethus were the sons of Jupiter 
and Antiope. Being carried off by her uncle Lycus, Antiope was en- 
trusted to his wife Dirce. When her sons grew up, they fastened Dirce 
to wild oxen, by which she was torn to pieces. Amphion was said to have 
built the walls of Thebes by the sound of his lyre. 

61 Arion.]— Ver. 326. See the Fasti, Book'ii. 1. 79. 

03 The festive psaltery.] — Ver. 327. Suidas tells us that ' nauliuin,' or 
' nablium,' was a name of the psaltery. Josephus says that it had twelve 
strings. Strabo remarks that the name was of foreign origin. 

63 Callimachus.'] —Ver. 329. See the Amores, Book ii. El. iv. 1. 19 ; 
and the Pontic Epistles, Book iv. Ep. xvi. 1. 32, and the Notes to the 
passages. 



B. ill. 329—351.] OB, THE AET OP LOVE. 447 

of the poet of Cos, 61 let the Teian Muse too, of the drunken 
old bard. Let Sappho, too, be well known ; for what is there 
more exciting than she ? Or than him, through whom 65 the 
father is deceived by the tricks of the crafty Geta ? You may, 
too, have read the poems of the tender Propertius, 66 or some- 
thing of Gallus, or thy works, Tibullus. 67 The fleece, too, so 
bewailed, Phryxus, of thy sister, shining with its yellow 
hair, celebrated by Varro. 68 The exiled iEneas, as well, the 
first origin of lofty Rome, 69 than which no work exists in 
Latium of greater fame. 

Perhaps, too, my name will be mingled among these, and 
my writings will not be consigned to the waters of Lethe. 
And people will one day say, " Read the elegant lines of 
our master, in which he instructs the two sides. 70 Or of 
his three books, which the title designates as ( The Amours,' 
choose a portion to read with skilful lips, in a languishing 
way. Or let his Epistles be repeated by you with well-modu- 
lated voice ; this kind of composition, 71 unknown to others, 
did he invent." Phcebus, mayst thou so will it ; so too, ye 
benignant Divinities of the Poets, Bacchus, graceful with thy 
horns, and you, ye nine Goddesses ! 

Who can doubt that I should wish the. fair one to know how 
to dance, that, the wine placed on table, she may move her arms 
in cadence, when requested. Masters of posture, 72 the repre- 

64 Poet of Cos.] — Ver. 330. The poet Philetas. He flourished in the 
time of Philip and Alexander the Great. Anacreon was a lyric poet of 
Teios, and a great admirer of the juice of the grape. 

65 Or him, through whom.~\ — Ver. 332. Some think that he means 
Menander, from whom Terence horrowed many of his scenes ; he prohahly 
alludes to the Phormio of Terence, where the old men, Chremes and 
Demipho, are deceived by Geta, the cunning slave. See the Tristia, 
Book ii. 1. 359 and 69. 

66 Propertius.] — Ver. 333. See the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 465, and the 
Note. 

67 Tibullus.']— Ver. 334. See the Amores, Book hi. El. ix. 

68 Varro.]— Ver. 335. See the Pontic Epistles, Book iv. Ep. xvi. 1. 21 ; 
and the Amores, Book i. El. xv. 1. 21, and the Notes to the passages. 

69 Lofty Rome.]— Ver. 338. He refers here to the ^Eneid of Virgil. 

70 Two sides.] — Ver. 342. Both the males and the females. 

71 Composition.] — Ver. 346. He takes to himself the credit of being 
the inventor of Epistolary composition. 

72 Masters of posture.] — Ver. 351. These persons, who were also 
called ' ludhV or ' histriones,' required great suppleness of the sides, for 
the purpose of aptly assuming expressive attitudes ; for which reason he 



448 AES AMATOEIA ; [b. hi. 351—372. 

sentations on the stage, are much valued ; so much graceful- 
ness does that pliant art possess. I am ashamed to advise on 
trifling points, to understand how to throw a cast of dice, and, 
thy value, the cube when thrown. And now let her throw the 
three numbers ; now let her consider, at which number she can 
cleverly enter most conveniently, and which one she must call 
for. 73 And, with her skill, let her play not amiss at the hostilities 
of the pieces ; 74 when the single man perishes between his two 
enemies. How the warrior, too, 75 wages the war when caught 
without his companion ; and how the enemy full oft retreats on 
the path on which he has begun. Let the smooth balls, 76 too, 
be poured into the open net ; and not a ball must be moved 
but the one which you shall be lifting up. There is a kind of 
game™ distributed into as many lines on a small scale, as the 
fleeting year contains months. A little table receives 78 three 
pebbles on each side, on which to bring one's own into a 
straight line, is to gain the victory. 

Devise a thousand amusements. 'Tis shocking for the 
fair one not to know how to play ; many a time, while playing, 
is love commenced. But the least matter is how to use the 
throws to advantage ; 'tis a task of greater consequence to lay 
a restraint on one's manners. While we are not thinking, 
and are revealed by our very intentness, and, through the game, 

calls them ' artifices lateris.' See the First Book, 1. 112 ; and the Tristia, 
Book ii. 1. 497, and the Note. 

73 Which she must call for.] — Ver. 356. Prohahly at the game of 
' duodecim scripta,' or ' twelve points,' like our backgammon ; sets of three 
' tesserae,' or dice, were used for throwing ; he recommends her to learn 
the game, and to know on what points to enter when taken up, and what 
throws to call for. See the last Book, 1. 203 ; and the Tristia, Book ii. 
1. 473, and the Note. 

74 The pieces.]— Ver. 357. See the Note to 1. 207, in the last Book. 

75 The warrior, too.] — Ver. 359. He alludes to one of the principal 
pieces, whose fate depends upon another. 

" 6 Let the smooth balls.] — Ver. 361. He seems to allude here to a 
game played by putting marbles (which seems to be the meaning of ' pilae 
leves,' ' smooth balls,') into a net with the mouth open, and then taking 
them out one by one without moving any of the others. 

" 7 Kind of game.] — Ver. 363. These two lines do not seem to be con- 
nected with the game mentioned in 1. 365, but rather to refer to that men- 
tioned in 1. 355. 

78 A little table receives.] — Ver. 365. Tbis game is mentioned in the 
Tristia, Book ii. 1. 481. It seems to resemble the simple game played by 
schoolboys on the slate, and known among them as tit-tat-to. 



B. in. 372—393.] OR, THE ART OF LOVE. 449 

our feelings, laid bare, are exposed ; anger arises, a disgrace- 
ful failing, and the greed for gain ; quarrels, too, and strife, 
and, then, bitter regrets. Recriminations are uttered ; the air 
resounds with the brawl, and every one for himself invokes 
the angry Divinities. There is no trusting 79 the tables, and, 
amid vows, new tables are called for ; full oft, too, have I seen 
cheeks wet with tears. May Jupiter avert from you indis- 
cretions so unbecoming, you, who have a care to be pleasing 
to any lover. 

To the fair, has nature, in softer mood, assigned these 
amusements ; with materials more abundant do the men dis- 
port. They have both the flying ball, 80 and the javelin, and 
the hoop, and arms, and the horse trained to go round the 
ring. No plain of Mars receives you, nor does the spring of 
the Virgin, 81 so intensely cold j nor does the Etrurian 82 river carry 
you along with its smooth stream. But you are allowed, and it 
is to your advantage, to go in the shade of Pompey's Portico, 
at the time when the head is heated by the steeds of the Con- 
stellation of the Virgin. 83 Frequent the Palatium, consecrated 
to the laurel-bearing Phoebus ; 'twas he that overwhelmed in the 
deep the ships of Parse tonium. 84 The memorials, also, which the 
sister and the wife s5 of our Ruler have erected; his son-in-law 86 
too, his head encircled with naval honors. Frequent the altars 

" 9 No trusting. ] — Ver. 377. On account of the continued run of bad 
luck. 

80 Flying ball.]— \ ex. 380. See the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 485-6, and 
the Note. 

81 The Virgin.] — Ver. 385. This was near the Campus Martius. See 
the Fasti, Book i. 1. 464 ; and the Pontic Epistles, Book i. Ep. viii. 1. 38, 
and the Note. 

82 Etrurian.] —Yer. 386. The Tiber flowed through ancient Etruria. 

83 The Virgin.]— Ver. 388. He alludes to the heat while the sun is 
passing through the Constellation Virgo. 

84 Parcetonium.] — Ver. 390. See the Amores, Book ii El. xiii. 1. 7, 
and the Note. He alludes to the victory of Augustus over Antony and 
Cleopatra, at Actium ; on which the conqueror built the temple of Apollo 
on the Palatine hill. 

85 The sister and the ivife.] — Ver. 391. Livia, the wife, and Octavia, 
the sister of Augustus, are referred to. 

86 His son-in-law.] — Ver. 392. The allusion is to M. Agrippa, the 
husband of Julia, the daughter of Augustus ; after the defeat of the 
younger Pompey, Augustus presented him with a naval crown. A Portico 
built by Augustus was called by his name. 

G G 



450 AES AMATOEIA; [b. ill. 393— 119. 

of the Meurphian heifer, 87 that smoke with frankincense ; 
frequent the three Theatres, 83 in conspicuous positions. Let 
the sand, stained with the warm blood, have you for spectators; 
the goal, also, to be passed with the glowing wheels." 9 

That which lies hid is unknown ; for what is not known 
there is no desire. All advantage is lost, when a pretty face is 
without one to see it. Were you to excel even Thamyras D0 and 
Amoebeus in your singing, there would be no great regard for 
your lyre, while unknown. If Apelles of Cos 91 had never 
painted Venus, she would have lain concealed beneath the 
ocean waves. What but fame alone is sought by the hal- 
lowed Poets ? The sum of all my labours has that crowning 
object. In former days, Poets were 52 the care of rulers and 
of kings ; and the choirs of old received great rewards. 
Hallowed was the dignity, and venerable the name of the Poets ; 
and upon them great riches were often bestowed. Ennius, born 
in the mountains of Calabria, was deemed worthy, great Scipio, 
to be placed near to thee. 93 At the present day, the ivy lies 
abandoned, without any honor ; and the laborious anxiety that 
toils for the learned Muses, receives the appellation of idleness. 

But be it our study to He on the watch for fame ; who 
would have known of Homer, if the Iliad, a never-dying work, 
had lain concealed ? Who would have known of Danae, if she 
had been for ever shut up, and if, till an old woman, she had 
continued concealed in her tower ? The throng, ye beauteous 
fair, is advantageous to you ; turn your wandering steps full oft 
beyond your thresholds. The she-wolf goes on her way to the 

87 Memphian heifer.] — Ver. 393. See the Amores, Book i. El. viii. 1. 74. 

88 Frequent the three Theatres.] — Ver. 394. He probably alludes to 
the theatres of Pompey, Balbus, and Marcellus, as they are mentioned by 
Suetonius as the ' trina theatra.' 

89 Glowing wheels.] — Ver. 396. See the Amores, Book hi. El. ii. 

50 Thamyras.'] — Ver. 399. He was a Thracian poet, who challenged the 
Muses to sing, and, according to Homer, was punished with madness. 
Diodorus Siculus says that he lost his voice, while the Roman poets state 
that he lost his sight. Amoebeus was a famous lute-player of Athens. 

91 Of Co*.]— Ver. 401. See the Pontic Epistles, Book iv. Ep. i. 1. 29. 

92 Poets were.] — Ver. 405. Euripides was the guest of Archelaus 
king of Macedonia, Anacreon of Poly crates king of Samos, and Pindar 
and Bacchilides of Hiero king of Sicily. 

53 Placed near to thee.] — Ver. 410. According to some accounts, the 
ashes of Ennius were deposited in the tomb of the Scipios, by the order of 
his friend Scipio Africanus. 



B. III. 419—447.] OB, THE ART OF LOTE. 451 

many sheep, that she may carry off but one ; and the bird of 
Jove pounces down upon the many birds. Let the handsome 
woman, too, present herself to be seen by the public ; out of 
so many, perhaps there will be one for her to attract. In all 
places, let her ever be desirous to please ; and, with all atten- 
tion, let her have a care for her charms. Chance is power- 
ful everywhere ; let your hook be always hanging ready. 
In waters where you least think it, there will be a fish. 
Many a time do the hounds wander in vain over the woody 
mountains ; and sometimes the stag falls in the toils, with no 
one to pursue him. What was there for Andromeda, when 
bound, less to hope for, than that her tears could possibly 
charm any one ? Many a time, at the funeral of a husband, 
is another husband found. To go with the tresses dishevelled, 
and not to withhold your lamentations, is becoming. 

But avoid those men who make dress and good looks 
their study ; and who arrange their locks, each in its own 
position. What they say to you, they have repeated to a 
thousand damsels. Their love is roving, and remains firm in 
no one spot. What is the woman to do, when the man, him- 
self, is still more effeminate, and himself perchance may have 
still more male admirers? 

You will hardly believe me, but still, do believe me ; Troy 
would have been still remaining, if it had followed the advice of 
its own Priam. 94 There are some men who range about, under 
a fictitious appearance of love, and, by means of such introduc- 
tions, seek disgraceful lucre. And do not let the locks deceive 
you, shining much with the liquid nard ; 95 nor yet the narrow 
belt, 96 pressed upon the folds of their dress. Nor let the robe 
of finest texture beguile you ; nor yet if there shall be 
many and many a ring 97 on their fingers. Perhaps the best 

M Its own Priam.]— Ver. 440. Priam and Antenor advised that Helen 
should be restored to Menelaiis. 

95 Liquid nard.'] — Ver. 443: There were two kinds of nard, the 'fo- 
liated,' and the ' spike ' nard. It was much esteemed as a perfume by 
the Romans. 

96 Narrow belt.] — Ver. 444. He probably means a girdle that fitted 
tightly, and caused the ' toga ' to set in many creases. See the Notes to 
the Fasti, Book v. 1. 675. 

97 And many a ring.] — Ver. 446. 'Alter et alter.' Literally, 'one 
and another.' 

G G 2 



452 ARS AMATORIA ; [ B . in. 447—474. 

dressed of the number of these may be some thief, 98 and may- 
be attracted by a desire for your clothes. " Give me back 
my property I" full oft do the plundered fair ones cry ; " Give 
me back my property !" the whole Forum resounding with 
their cries. Thou, Venus," unmoved, and you, ye Goddesses, 1 
near the Appian way, from your temples blazing with plenteous 
gold, behold these disputes. There are even certain names 
notorious by a reputation that admits of no doubt; those 
females who have been deceived by many, share the crimi- 
nality of their favorites. Learn, then, from the complaints 
of others, to have apprehensions for yourselves ; and do not 
let your door be open to the knavish man. 

Refrain, Cecropian fair, from believing Theseus, 2 when he 
swears ; the Gods whom he will make his witnesses, he has 
made so before. And no trust is there left for thee, Demo- 
phoon, heir to the criminality of Theseus, since Phyllis has 
been deceived. If they are lavish of their promises, in just as 
many words do you promise them ; if they give, do you, too, 
give the promised favours. That woman could extinguish the 
watchful flames of Vesta, and could bear off the sacred things, 
daughter of Inachus, 3 from thy temples, and could administer 
to her husband the aconite, mixed with the pounded hemlock, 
if on receiving a present she could deny a favour. 

My feelings are prompting me to go too close ; check the rein, 
my Muse : and be not hurled headlong by the wheels in 
their full career. Should lines, written on the tablets made of 
fir, try the soundings ; let a maid suited for the duty take in 
the billets that are sent. Examine them ; and collect from 
the words themselves, whether he only pretends what you are 
reading, or whether he entreats anxiously, and with sincerity. 
And after a short delay, write an answer : delay ever stimu- 
lates those in love, if it lasts only for a short time. 

98 Some thief.'] — Ver. 447. Among its other refinements, Rome seems 
to have had its swell mob. 

99 Thou, Venus.] — Ver. 451. This temple is referred to in the First 
Book, 1. 81 — 87. Its vicinity was much frequented by courtesans. 

1 You, ye Goddesses.] — Ver. 452. He probably alludes to the Nymphs 
whose statues were near the Appian aqueduct, mentioned in the 81st line 
of the First Book. The Delphin Editor absolutely thinks that the ' pro- 
fessas,' or courtesans, are themselves alluded to as the ' Appiades Deae.' 

2 Theseus.] — Ver. 457. Who deserted Ariadne. 

3 Of Inachus.] — Ver. 464. Isis, or Io. See the Metamorphoses, Bk. i. 



B. III. 475—505.] OR, THE ART OF LOYE. 453 

But neither do you make yourself too cheap to the youth who 
entreats, nor yet refuse, with disdainful lips, what he is press- 
ing for. Cause him both to fear and to hope at the same 
moment ; and oft as you refuse him, let hopes more assured, 
and diminished apprehensions arise. 

Write your words, ye fair, in a legible hand, but of common 
parlance, and such as are usual ; the recognized forms of lan- 
guage are most pleasing. — Ah ! how oft has the wavering lover 
been inflamed by a letter, and how oft has uncouth language 
proved detrimental to a graceful form ! But since, although 
you are without the honors of the fillet of chastity, it is still 
your care to deceive your husbands ; 4 let the skilled hand of 
a maid, or of a boy, carry the tablets, and don't entrust your 
pledges to some unknown youth. I myself have seen the fair 
pale with terror on that account, enduring, in their misery, 
servitude to all future time. Perfidious, indeed, is he who 
retains such pledges : but still in them he has power equal to 
the lightnings of iEtna. 

In my opinion deceit is allowable, for the purpose of repel- 
ling deceit ; and the laws permit us to take up arms against the 
armed. One hand should be accustomed to write in numerous 
styles. Perdition to those, through whom this advice must be 
given by me ! Nor is it safe to write, except when the wax is 
quite smoothed over ; so that the same tablet may not contain 
two hands. 5 Let your lover be always styled a female when 
you write ; in vour billets let that be " she," which really is 
"he." 

But I wish to turn my attention from trifles to things of more 
consequence, and with swelling canvass to expand my filling 
sails. It conduces to good looks to restrain habits of anger. 
Fair peace becomes human beings, savage fury wild beasts. 
With fury the features swell ; with blood the veins grow 
black ; the eyes flash more wildly than the Gorgonian fires. 
" Pipe, hence avaunt, 6 thou art not of so much worth to me," 

4 To deceive your husbands'] — Ver. 484. It is not improbable that 
' viros ' here means merely ' keepers,' and not ' husbands,' especially as he 
alludes to their being without the privilege of the ' vitta,' which the matrons 
wore. 

5 Two hands.] — Ver. 496. He means, that the writing of the lover 
must be quite erased before she pens her answer on the same tablets. 

6 Hence, avaunt.] — Ver. 505. See the Fasti, Book vi. 1. G9G. 



454 AUS AMATORIA ; [b. hi. 505—537. 

said Pallas, when she saw her features in the stream. You, 
too, if you were to look at your mirror in the midst of your 
anger, hardly could any one distinctly recognize her own 
countenance. And, in no less degree, let not a repulsive 
haughtiness sit upon your features ; by alluring eyes love 
must be enticed. Believe me, ye fair who know it by ex- 
perience, I hate immoderate conceit. Full oft do the features 
in silence contain the germs of hatred. Look at him who looks 
on you ; smile sweetly in return to him who smiles. Does he 
nod at you ; do you, too, return the sign well understood. 
When the Boy Cupid has made these preludes, laying aside 
his foils, 6 he takes his sharp arrows from his quiver. 

I hate the melancholy damsels too. Let Ajax be charmed 
with Tecmessa ; 7 us, a joyous throng, the cheerful woman cap- 
tivates. Never should I have asked thee, Andromache, nor 
thee, Tecmessa, that one of you would be my mistress. I seem 
hardly ably to believe it, though by your fruitfulness I am 
obliged to believe it, that you could have granted your favours 
to your husbands. And could, forsooth, that most melancholy 
woman say to Ajax, " My life V and words which are wont 
to please the men ? 

What forbids me to apply illustrations from great matters 
to small ones, and not to be standing in awe of the name 
of a general ? To this person the skilful general has entrusted 
a hundred to be ruled with the twig of vine ; 8 to this one so 
many cavalry; to that one he has given the standard to defend. 
Do you, too, consider, to what use each of us is suited, and 
class each one in his assigned position. Let the rich man give 
his presents ; let him that professes the law, defend ; the elo- 
quent man may often plead the cause of his client. We who 
compose verse, verses alone let us contribute. This throng, 
before all others, is susceptible of love. Far and wide do 
we herald the praises of the beauty that pleases us. Ne- 
mesis 9 has fame ; Cynthia, too, has fame. The West and the 

H Laying aside his foils.] — Ver. 515. The 'rudis' was a stick, which 
soldiers and persons exercising used in mimic combat, probably like our 
foil or singlestick. 

7 With Tecmessa.] — Ver. 517. She was taken captive by Ajax, and 
probably had good reason to be sorrowful. 

8 The twig of vine.] — Ver. 527. He alludes to the Centurions, who 
had the power of inflicting corporal punishment, from which circumstance 
their badge of office was a vine sapling. 

9 Nemesis.] — Ver. 536. Nemesis was the mistress of Tibullus. See 



B. Ill, 537 — 574.] OE, THE AET OF LOVE. 455 

lands of the East know of Lycoris : and many a one is en- 
quiring who my Corinna is. Besides, all deceit is wanting in 
the hallowed Poets, and even our art contributes to forming our 
manners. No ambition influences us, no love of gain ; des- 
pising the Courts, the couch and the shade are the objects of 
our commendation. But we are easily attracted, and are con- 
sumed by a lasting heat ; and we know how to love with a 
constancy most enduring. Indeed, we have our feelings- 
softened by the gentle art ; and our manners are in conformity 
with our pursuits. 

Be kind, ye fair, to the Aonian bards. In them there is 
inspiration, and the Pierian maids show favour unto them. In 
us a Divinity exists : and we have intercourse with the heavens. 
From the realms of the skies does that inspiration proceed. 
'Tis a crime to look for a present from the learned Poets. 
Ah wretched me ! of this crime no fair one stands in dread. 
Still, do act the dissemblers, and at the very first sight, do not 
be ravenous. On seeing your nets, a new lover will stop short. 
But neither can the rider manage with the same reins the 
horse which has but lately felt the bridle, and that which is 
well-trained ; nor yet must the same path be trod by you 
in order to captivate the feelings that are steadied by years, 
and inexperienced youth. 

The latter is raw, and now for the first time known in the 
camp of Love, who, a tender prey, has reached your chamber; 
with you alone is he acquainted ; to you alone would he ever 
prove constant. Shun a rival ; so long as you alone shall possess 
him, you will be the conqueror. Both sovereignties and love do 
not last long with one to share in them. The other, the veteran 
soldier, will love you gradually, and with moderation ; and he 
will put up with much that will not be endured by the novice. 
He will neither break down your door- posts, nor burn them 
with raging flames ; nor will he fly at the tender cheek of his 
mistress with his nails. He will neither tear his own clothes, 
nor yet the clothes of the fair ; nor will her torn locks be a 
cause for grieving. These things befit boys, who are 
heated with youthful years and with passion : the other, with 
tranquil feelings, will put up with cruel wounds. With slowly 
consuming fires will he smoulder, just like a damp torch ; or 

the Amores, Book iii. El. ix. Cynthia was the mistress of Propertius, 
and Lycoris of G alius. 



456 ABS AMATORIA ; [b. hi. 574—605. 

like the wood that has been cut down upon the mountain 
ridge. This passion is more sure ; the former is short-lived and 
more bounteous. With speedy hand do you pluck the fruit 
that passes away. 

Let all points be surrendered ; the gates we have opened 
to the enemy, and let confidence be placed in this perfidious 
betrayal. That which is easily conceded, but badly supports a 
lasting passion. A repulse must now and then be mingled with 
your joyous dalliance. Let him lie down before your doors : 
" Cruel door !" let him exclaim ; and let him do many a thing 
in humble, many in threatening mood. The sweet we can- 
not endure ; with bitter potions we may be refreshed. Full oft 
does the bark perish, overwhelmed by favouring gales. This 
it is that does not permit wives to be loved ; husbands have 
access to them, whenever they please. Shut your door, 10 and 
let your porter say to you with surly lips, " You cannot come 
in ;" desire will seize you, as well, thus shut out. 

Now lay aside the blunted swords ; let the battle be fought 
with sharpened ones. And I doubt not but that I myself shall 
be aimed at with weapons of my own furnishing. While the 
lover that has been captured only of late is falling into your 
toils, let him hope that he alone has admission to your chamber. 
But soon let him be aware of a rival, and a division of 
the privileges of your favours. Remove these contrivances ; 
and his passion will grow effete. Then does the high-mettled 
courser run well, the starting-place being opened, when he 
has both competitors to pass by, and those for him to follow. 
Harshness rekindles the flame, even if gone out. Myself to 
wit, I confess it, I do not love unless I am ill-used. 

Still, the cause for grief should not be too manifest : and in 
his anxiety he ought to suspect that there is more than what he 
actually knows. The harsh supervision, too, of some feigned 
servant should excite him, and the irksome watchfulness of a 
husband too severe. The pleasure that is enjoyed in safety, is 
the least valued of all. Though you are more at liberty than 
even Thais, 11 still feign apprehensions. Whereas you could 

10 Shut your door.} — Ver. 587. He addresses the husband, whom he 
supposes to be wearied with* satiety. 

11 Than even Thais.} — Ver. 604. Thais seems to have been a common 
name with the courtesans of ancient times. Terence, in his Eunuchus, intro- 
duces one of that name, who is pretty much of the free and unrestrained 
character here depicted. 



B. in. C05— 631.] OE, THE AET OE LOYE. 457 

do it far better by the door, admit him through the window ; 
and on your countenance show the signs of fear. Let the cun • 
ning maid rush in, and exclaim, "We are undone!" and then do 
you hide the youth in his fright in any spot. Still, an enjoy- 
ment without anxiety must be interspersed with his alarms ; lest 
he should not think your favours to be worth so much trouble. 

But I was about to omit by what methods the cunning hus- 
band may be eluded, and how the watchful keeper. Let the 
wife stand in awe of her husband ; let the safe keeping of a 
wife be allowed. That is proper ; that the laws, and justice, 
and decency ordain. But for you as well to be watched, 
whom the Lictor's rod 12 has but just set at liberty, who can 
endure it ? Come to my sacred rites, that you may learn how to 
deceive. Even if as many eyes shall be watching you, as 
Argus had, if there is only a fixed determination, you will de- 
ceive them all. And shall a keeper, forsooth, hinder you from 
being able to write, when an opportunity is given you for taking 
the bath 1 When a female confidant can carry the note you 
have penned, which her broad girth 13 can conceal in her warm 
bosom ? When she can conceal the paper fastened to her calf, 
and carry the tender note beneath her sandalled foot. 

Should the keeper be proof against these contrivances ; 
in place of paper, let your confidant afford her shoulders ; 
and upon her own person let her carry your words. Letters, 
too, written in new milk, are safe and escape the eye ; touch 
them with powdered coals, and you will read them. The writing, 
too, which is made with the stalk of wetted flax, 14 will deceive, 
and the clean surface will bear the secret marks. The care of 

12 Lictor's rod.] — Ver. 615. This conferred freedom on the slave who 
was touched with it. See the Fasti, Book vi. 1. 676, and the Note. He 
means, that free-born women are worthy to become wives; but 'libertinae,' 
or ; freed- women,' are only fit to become ' professse,' or ' courtesans,' when 
they may sin with impunity, so far as the laws are concerned. 

la Broad girth.'] — Ver. 622. This seems to be the kind of belt men 
tioned in line 274. 

14 Stalk of wetted flax.] — Ver. 629. According to the common reading, 
this will mean that the letter is to be written on blank paper, with a stalk 
of wetted flax : which writing will afterwards appear, when a black sub- 
stance is thrown upon it. Heinsius insists that the passage is corrupt, 
and suggests that ' alumine nitri ' is the correct reading ; in which case it 
would mean that alum water is to be used instead of ink. Vossius tells 
us that alum water, mixed with the juice of the plant ' tithymalum,' was 
used for the purposes of secret correspondence. 



458 AHS AMATOEIA ; [b. in. 631—662. 

watching a fair one fell to Acrisius ; still, through his own fault, 
did she make him a grandsire. What can a keeper do, when 
there are so many Theatres in the City ? When, eagerly she 
is a spectator of the harnessed steeds ? When she is sitting in 
attendance upon the sistra of the Pharian heifer, and at the 
place where her male friends are forbidden to go ? While, too, 
the Good Goddess 15 expels the gaze of males from her temples, 
except any that, perchance, she bids to come : while, as the 
keeper watches outside the clothes of the fair, the baths may 
in safety conceal the lovers who are hiding there ; while, so 
often as is requisite, some pretended she-friend may be sick, 
and, ill as she is, may give place for her in her couch. While 
the false key, too, tells 16 by its name what we are to do, and 
it is not the door alone that gives the access you require. 

The watchfulness of the keeper is eluded by plenty of 
wine ; even though 17 the grapes be gathered on the hills of 
Spain. There are drugs, too, which create deep sleep ; and 
let them close the eyes overpowered by Lethsean night. And 
not amiss does the confidant occupy the troublesome fellow 
with dalliance to create delay, and in his company spins out 
the time. 

What need is there to be teaching stratagems and trifling 
precepts, when the keeper may be purchased by the smallest 
present? Believe me, presents influence both men and Gods : 
on gifts being presented, Jupiter himself is appeased. What 
is the wise man to do, when even the fool is gratified with a 
present ? The husband himself, on receiving a present, will be 
silent. But once only throughout the long year must the 
keeper be bought ; full oft will he hold out the hand which 
he has once extended. 

I complained, I recollect, that new-made friends are to be 
dreaded ; that complaint does not extend to men alone. If you 
are too trusting, other women will interrupt your pleasures; and 
this hare of yours will be destined to be hunted down by other 

15 Good Goddess."] — Ver. 637. The debauched Clodius was detected 
as being present at these rites, in a female dress. 

16 The false key, too, tells."] — Ver. 643. He plays upon the double 
meaning of the words, ' adultera clavis,' which properly signifies ' a false 
key.' 

17 Even though.] — Ver. 646. '• Even though you should have to go to 
the expense of providing the rich wines of Spain for the purpose.' 



B. ill. 662—695.] OE, THE AET OF LOYE. 4.59 

persons. Even she, 13 who so obligingly lends her couch and 
her room, believe me, has not once only been in my company. 
And do not let too pretty a maid wait upon you ; many a time 
has she filled 19 her mistress's place for me. Whither, in my 
folly, am I led on 1 Why with bared breast do I strive against 
the foe, and why, myself, am I betrayed through information 
that is my own? The bird does not instruct the fowler in which 
direction he may be taken : the hind does not teach the hos- 
tile hounds how to run. Stilly let interest see to itself; my 
precepts, with fidelity will I give. To the Lemnian dames, 20 for 
my own destruction, will I present the sword. 

Give reason (and 'tis easy to do so) for us to believe our- 
selves to be loved. Belief arises readily in those who are anx- 
ious for the fulfilment of their desires. Let the fair one eye the 
youth in a kindly manner ; let her heave sighs from her very 
heart, and let her enquire, why it is he comes so late 1 Let 
tears be added, too, and feigned apprehensions about a rival, 
and with her fingers let her tear her face. Soon will he be 
thoroughly persuaded, and he will pity you of his own accord; 
and will say to himself, "This woman is consumed by af- 
fection for me." Especially, if he shall be well drest, and 
shall please himself at the looking-glass, he will believe that 
the Goddesses might be touched with love for him. But, who- 
ever you are, let an injury disturb you only in a moderate de- 
gree; and don't, on hearing of a rival, go out of your mind. 
And don't at once believe it ; how injurious it is at once to 
believe things, Procris will be no slight proof to you. 

There is near the empurpled hills of blooming Hymettus 
a sacred spring, and the ground is soft with the verdant turf. 
The wood, of no great height, there forms a grove; the straw- 
berry tree overshadows the grass; rosemary, and laurels, and 
swarthy myrtles give their perfume. Neither the box-trees with 
their thick foliage and the slender tamarisks, nor yet the tiny 
trefoil and the garden pine, are wanting there. Moved by the 
gentle Zephyrs and the balmy air, the leaves of these many 
kinds, and the tops of the grass quiver. Pleasant was this 

13 Even she.] — Ver. 663. He alludes to the accommodating lady men- 
tioned in line 641. 

19 Has she filled.']— Ver. 666. See his address to Cypassis, in the 
Amores, Book ii. El. viii. 

20 Lemnian dames.]— Ver. 672. See the introduction to the Epistle 
from Hypsipyle to Jason. 



460 ARS AMATORIA ; [b. III. 695—726. 

retreat to Cephalus ; 21 his servants and his hounds left behind, 
the youth, when weary, often sat down in this spot. And here he 
was in the habit of repeating, "Come, gentle Aura [breeze], to 
be received in my bosom, that thou mayst moderate my heat." 

Some person, maliciously officious, with retentive lips carried 
the words he had heard to the timid ears of his wife. Procris, 
when she heard the name of Aura [breeze], as though of a rival, 
fainted away, and with this sudden apprehension she was mute. 
She turned pale, just as the late leaves become wan, which 
the coming winter has nipped, the clusters now gathered from 
the vine ; and as the quinces 22 which in their ripeness are 
bending their boughs ; and as the cornels not yet quite fit for 
food for man. When her senses bad returned, she tore her 
thin garments from off her body with her nails, and wounded 
her guiltless cheeks. And no delay was there ; raving, with 
dishevelled locks, she flew amid the tracks, like a Bacchanal 
aroused by the thyrsus. When she had come near the spot, 
she left her attendants in the valley ; and with silent foot- 
steps, in her boldness, she herself stealthily entered the grove. 
What, Procris, were thy feelings, when thus, in thy frenzy, 
thou didst lie concealed % What the impulse of thy disquieted 
breast? Each moment, forsooth, wast thou expecting that 
she would come, whoever Aura might be, and that their cri- 
minality would be witnessed with thine eyes. 

Now dost thou repent of having come, for indeed thouwouldst 
not wish to detect him ; and now thou art glad ; fluctuating af- 
fection is tormenting thy breast. There is the spot, and the 
name, and the informant to bid thee give credence ; and the 
fact that the lover always apprehends that to exist which he 
dreads. When she beheld the grass beaten down, the impress 
of his body, her trembling bosom was throbbing with her palpi- 
tating heart. And now midday had made the unsubstantial 
shadows small, and at an equal distance were the evening 
and the morn. Behold ! Cephalus, the offspring of the Cyi- 
lenian God, 23 returns from the woods, and sprinkles his glow- 

21 Cep7ialus.~] — Ver. 695. This story is also related in the Seventh Book 
of the Metamorphoses. 

22 The quinces.] — Ver. 705. These are called ' cydonia,' from Cydon, 
a city of Crete. 

23 Cyllenian God.] — Ver. 725. Cephalus was said to be the son of 
Mercury ; but, according to one account, which is followed by Ovid in the 
Metamorphoses, Deioneus was his father. 



B. ill. 726— 757.] OR, THE ART OE LOYE. 461 

ing face with water of the fountain. In thy anxiety, Procris, 
art thou lying concealed. Along the grass he lies as wont, 
and says, " Ye gentle Zephyrs, and thou Aura [breeze], come 
hither" When the welcome mistake of the name was thus 
revealed to the sorrowing fair, both her senses and the real 
colour of her face returned. 

She arose ; and the wife, about to rush into the embrace of 
her husband, by the moving of her body, shook the leaves that 
were in her way. He, thinking that a wild beast had made the 
noise, with alacrity snatched up his bow ; his arrows were in 
his right hand. What, wretched man, art thou about ? "lis 
no wild beast ; keep still thy weapons. Ah wretched me ! 
by thy dart has the fair been pierced. " Ah me !" she cries 
aloud, "a loving heart hast thou pierced. That spot has ever 
retained the wounds inflicted by Ceplialus. Before my time 
I die, but injured by no rival ; this, Earth, will make thee 
light when I am entombed. Now is ray breath departing in 
the breeze that I had thus suspected ; I sink, alas ! close my 
eyes with those dear hands." 

In his sorrowing bosom he supports the dying body of his 
spouse, and with his tears he bathes her cruel wounds. Her 
breath departs ; and gradually fleeting from her senseless 
breast, her breath 24 is received into the mouth of her wretched 
husband. 

But let us return to our path ; I must deal with my sub- 
ject undisguised, that my wearied bark may reach its port. 
You may be waitmg, in fact, for me to escort you to the ban- 
quet, and may be requesting my advice in this respect as well. 
Come late, and enter when the lights are brought in ; delay 
is a friend to passion ; a very great stimulant is delay. Even 
should you be ugly, to the tipsy you will appear charming : 
and night itself will afford a concealment for your imper- 
fections. Take up your food with your fingers ; 25 the method 
of eating is something ; and do not besmear all your face 
with your dirty hand. And do not first 16 take food at 

2i Her breath.] — Ver. 746. See the corresponding passage in the Me- 
tamorphoses, Book vii. 1. 861. It was the custom for the nearest rela- 
tive to catch the breath of the dying person in the mouth. 

25 With your fingers.'] — Ver. 755. Perhaps he means in moderate 
quantities at a time, and not in whole handfuls. See the Note to the 
First Book, 1. 577. 

26 And do not first.] — Ver. 757. He seems to give two precepts here ; 



462 AKS AMATOKIA ; [b. in. 757—783. 

home ; but cease to eat a little sooner than you could wish, 
and could have eaten. Had the son of Priam seen Helen 
greedily devouring, he would have detested her ; and he would 
have said, " That prize of mine is an oaf." 

It is more proper and is more becoming for the fair to drink 
to excess. Thou dost not, Bacchus, consort amiss with the son 
of Venus. This too, only so far as the head will bear it, and the 
senses and the feet will be able to perform their duty ;' i7 and do 
not see each object that is single, as double. A woman spraw- 
ling along, and drenched in plenteous wine, is a disgusting 
object ; she is worthy to endure the embraces of any kind of 
fellows. And it is no safe thing when the tables are removed to 
fall asleep; in sleep many a shocking thing is wont to happen. 
I feel ashamed to instruct you any further, but genial Dione 
says, "That which shames you is especially my own province." 
Let each particular then be known unto you : 

modos a corpore certos 

Sumite ; non omnes una figura decet. 
Quae facie prsesignis eris, resupina jaceto : 

Spectentur tergo, quis sua terga placent. 
Milanion humeris Atalantes crura ferebat : 

Si bona sunt, hoc sunt accipienda modo. 
Parva vehatur equo : quod erat longissima, nunquam 

Thebais Hectoreo nupta resedit equo. 
Strata premat genibus, paulum cervice reflexa, 

Fcemina, per longum conspicienda latus. 
Cui femur est juvenile, carent cui pectora menda, 

Stet vir, in obliquo fusa sit ipsa toro* 
Nee tibi turpe puta crinem, ut Phylleia mater, 

Solvere : et efFusis colla reflecte comis. 
Tu quoque, cui rugis uterum Lucina notavit, 

Ut celer aversis utere Parthus equis. 
Mille modi Veneris. Simplex minimique laboris, 

Cum jacet in dextrum semisupina Litus. 

first, they are not to eat so much at home as to take away all appetite 
at the banquet, as that would savour of affectation, and be an act of rude- 
ness to the host. On the other hand, he warns them not to stuff as long 
as they are able, but rather to leave off with an appetite. The passage, 
however, is hopelessly corrupt, and is capable of other interpretations. 

27 Perform their duty.]— -V 'er. 764, ' Constent/ literally, 'Will stand 
together.' 



B. III. 788—812.] OR, THE ART OE LOYE. 463 

Sed neque Phcebei trip odes, nee corniger Amnion, 

Vera magis vobis, quam mea Musa, canent. 
Si qua fides arti, quam longo fecimus usu, 

Credite : prsestabunt carmina nostra fidem. 
Sentiat ex imis Venerem resoluta medullis 

Fcemina : et ex aequo res juvet ilia duos. 
Nee blandse voces, jucundaque murmura cessent ; 

Nee taceant mediis improba verba jocis. 
Tu quoque, cui Veneris sensum natura negavit, 

Duleia mendaci gaudia finge sono. 
Infelix, cui torpet hebes locus ille, puella es ; 

Quo pariter debent fcemina virque frui. 
Tantum, cum finges, ne sis manifesta caveto : 

Effice per motum luminaque ipsa fidem. 
Quod juvet : et voces et anhelitus arguat oris. 

Ah pudet ! arcanas pars habet ista notas. 
Gaudia post Veneris quae poscet munus amantem, 

Ipsa suas nolet pondus habere preces. 

And admit not the light in your chamber with the* windows 
wide open ; many blemishes of your person more becomingly 
lie concealed. 

My pastime draws to a close ; 'tis time to descend from 
the swans, 28 that have borne my yoke upon their necks. As 
once the youths did, so now the fair, as my audience, may 
inscribe, " Naso was our preceptor," upon their spoils. 

28 The swans.] — Ver. 899. He also alludes to them in the Metamor- 
phoses, as drawing the car of Venus, though that office was more gene- 
rally assigned by the Poets to doves. 



EEMEDIA AMORIS; 



THE REMEDY OF LOVE. 



The God of Love had read the title and the name of this 
treatise, when he said, " War, I see, war is being meditated 
against me." Forbear, Cupid, to accuse thy Poet of such 
a crime ; me, who so oft have borne thy standards with thee 
for my leader. I am no son of Tydeus, wounded by whom, 1 
thy mother returned into the yielding air with the steeds of 
Mars. Other youths full oft grow cool; I have ever loved ; and 
shouldst thou inquire what I am doing even now, I am still in 
love. Besides, I have taught by what arts thou mayst be won ; 
and that which is now a system, was an impulse before. Nei- 
ther thee do I betray, sweet Boy, nor yet my own arts ; nor 
has my more recent Muse unravelled her former work. 

If any one loves an object which he delights to love, en- 
raptured, in his happiness, let him rejoice, and let him sail 
with prospering gales. But if any one impatiently endures 
the sway of some cruel fair, that he may not be undone, let 
him experience relief from my skill. Why has one person, 
tying up his neck 2 by the tightened halter, hung, a sad burden, 
from the lofty beam ? Why, with the hard iron, has another 
pierced his own entrails ? Lover of peace, thou dost bear the 
blame of their deaths. He, who, unless he desists, is about 
to perish by a wretched passion, let him desist ; and then thou 
wilt prove the cause of death to none. Besides, thou art a, 
boy ; and it becomes thee not to do aught but play. Play on ; 
a sportive sway befits thy years. For thou mayst use thy 

1 Wounded by whom] — Ver. 5. He alludes to the wound received by 
Venus from Diomedes, the son of Tydeus. 

2 Tying up his neck.] — Ver. 17. He probably alludes to the unfortunate 
end of the passion of Iphis for Anaxarete, which is related at the close of 
the Fourteenth Book of the Metamorphoses. 



25—58.] REHEDIA AMORIS ; OR, THE REMEDY OF LOVE. 465 

arrows, when drawn from the quiver for warfare ; but thy 
weapons are free from deadly blood. 

Let thy stepfather Mars wage war both with the sword and 
the sharp lance ; and let him go, as victor, blood-stained with 
plenteous slaughter. Do thou cherish thy mother's arts, which, 
in safety, we pursue ; and by the fault of which no parent be- 
comes bereft. Do thou cause the portals to be burst open in 
the broils of the night ; and let many a chaplet cover the 
decorated doors. Cause the youths and the bashful damsels 
to meet in secret ; and by any contrivance they can, let them 
deceive their watchful husbands. And at one moment, let 
the lover utter blandishments, at another, rebukes, against the 
obdurate door-posts; and, shut out, let him sing some doleful 
ditty. Contented with these tears, thou wilt be without the 
imputation of any death. Thy torch is not deserving to be 
applied to the consuming pile. 

These words said I. Beauteous Love waved his resplendent 
wings, and said to me, "Complete the work that thou dost de- 
sign." Come, then, ye deceived youths, for my precepts ; ye 
whom your passion has deceived in every way. By him, through 
whom you have learned how to love, learn how to be cured ; 
for you, the same hand shall cause the wound and the remedy. 
The earth nourishes wholesome plants, and the same produces 
injurious ones ; and full oft is the nettle the neighbour of the 
rose. That lance which once made a wound in the enemy, the 
son of Hercules, afforded a remedy 3 for that wound. But 
whatever is addressed to the men, believe, ye fair, to be said 
to you as well ; to both sides am I giving arms. If of these 
any are not suited to your use, still by their example they 
may afford much instruction. My useful purpose is to extin- 
guish the raging flames, and not to have the mind the slave of 
its own imperfections. Phyllis would have survived, if she had 
employed me as her teacher ; and along that road, by which 
nine times she went, 4 she would have gone oftener still. 
And Dido, dying, would not have beheld from the summit of 
her tower the Dardanian ships giving their sails to the wind. 

3 A remedy.] — Ver. 47. Telephus, the son of Hercules and Auge, 
having been wounded by the spear of Achilles, was cured by the applica- 
tion of the rust of the same weapon. 

4 Nine times she went.] — Ver. 56. See the Epistle of Phyllis to Demo- 
phoon. 

H H 



466 KEMEDIA AMORIS; [59—88. 

Grief, too, would not have armed Medea, the mother against 
her own offspring ; she who took vengeance on her husband, 
by the shedding of their united blood. Through my skill, 
Tereus, although Philomela did captivate him, would not, 
through his crimes, have been deserving to become a bird. 6 

Give me Pasiphae for a pupil, at once she shall lay aside 
her passion for the bull ; give me Phaedra, the shocking 
passion of Phaedra shall depart. Bring Paris back to us ; 
Menelaiis shall possess his Helen, and Pergamus shall not fall, 
conquered by Grecian hands. If impious Scylla had read my 
treatise, the purple lock, Nisus, would have remained upon thy 
head. With me for your guide, ye men, repress your per- 
nicious anxieties ; and onward let the bark proceed with the 
companions, me the pilot. At the time when you were 
learning how to love, Naso was to be studied ; now, too, 
will the same Naso have to be studied by you. An universal 
assertor 6 of liberty, I will relieve the breasts that are op- 
pressed by their tyrants ; do you show favour, each of you, 
to my liberating wand. 7 

Prophetic Phoebus, inventor of song, and of the healing 
art, I pray that the laurel may afford me its aid. Do thou shew 
favour both to the poet and to the physician ; to thy guar- 
dianship is either care consigned. 

While still you may, and while moderate emotions influence 
your breast ; if you repent, withhold your footsteps upon the 
very threshold. Tread under foot the hurtful seeds of the 
sudden malady, while they are still fresh ; and let your steed, as 
he begins to go, refuse to proceed. For time supplies strength, 
time thoroughly ripens the yovmg grapes ; and it makes that 
into vigorous standing corn, which before was only blades of 
grass. The tree which affords its extending shade to those 
who walk beneath, was but a twig at the time when it was 
first planted. At that time, with the hand it could have been 
rooted from the surface of the earth ; now, increased by its 

5 Become a bird.] — Ver. 62. See the Metamorphoses, Book vi. 

6 Assertor.] — Ver. 73. This word was properly applied to one who laid 
his hands on a slave, and asserted his freedom. By the Laws of the 
' Twelve Tahles/ he was required to give security for his appearance in 
an action hy the master of the slave, to the amount of fifty ' asses,' and 
no more. 

~ Liberating wand.]— Ver. 74. See the Last Book, 1. 615, and the 
Note. 



88—126.] OE, THE EEMEDY OF LOYE. 46/ 

own powers, it is standing upon a large space. Examine with 
active perception, what sort of object it is, with which you are 
in love ; and withdraw your neck from a yoke that is sure to 
gall. Resist the first advances ; too late is a cure attempted, 
when through long hesitation the malady has waxed strong. 
But hasten, and do not postpone to a future moment ; that 
which is not agreable to-day, will to-morrow be still less so. 
Every passion is deceiving, and finds nutriment" in delay. 
Each day's morrow is the best suited for liberty. 

You see but few rivers arise from great sources ; most of 
them are multiplied by a collection of waters. If thou hadst 
at once perceived how great a sin thou wast meditating, thou 
wouldst not, Myrrha, have had thy features covered with 
bark. I have seen a wound, which at first was curable, 
when neglected receive injury from protracted delay. But 
because we are delighted to pluck the flowers of Venus, we 
are continually saying, " This will be done to-morrow just 
as well." In the meantime, the silent flames are gliding into 
the entrails ; and the hurtful tree is sending its roots more 
deep. 

But if the time for early aid has now passed by, and an old 
passion is seated deeply in your captured breast, a greater 
labour is provided ; but, because I am called in but late to the 
sick, he shall not be deserted by me. With unerring hand 
the hero, son of Poeas, 8 ought at once to have cut out the 
part in which he was wounded. Still, after many a year, he 
is supposed, when cured, to have given a finishing hand to 
the warfare. I, who just now was hastening to dispel maladies 
at their birth, am now tardy in administering aid to you at a 
later moment. Either try, if you can, to extinguish the flames 
when recent; or when they have become exhausted by their own 
efforts. When frenzy is in full career, yield to frenzy in its 
career; each impulse presents a difficult access. The swimmer 
is a fool, who, when he can cross the stream by going down 
with it sideways, struggles to go straight against the tide. A 
mind impatient, and not yet manageable by any contrivance, 
rejects the words of an adviser, and holds them in contempt. 
More successfully, then, shall I attempt it. when he shall now 

8 Son of Poeas]— Ver. 111. See the Metamorphoses, Book x. L 45, 
and the Note. 

H II 2 



468 EEMEDIA AMOEIS ; [126—154- 

allow his wounds to be touched, and shall he accessible to 
the words of truthfulness. 

Who, but one bereft of understanding, would forbid a 
mother to weep at the death of her son ? On such an occasion 
she is not to be counselled. When she shall have exhausted her 
tears, and have satisfied her afflicted feelings ; that grief of hers 
will be capable of being soothed with words. The healing art is 
generally a work of opportunity ; wine, administered at the 
proper time, is beneficial, and administered at an unsuitable 
time, is injurious. And, besides, you may inflame maladies and 
irritate them by checking them ; if you do not combat them at 
the fitting moment. Therefore, when you shall seem to be 
curable by my skill, take care, and by my precepts shun the 
first approaches of idleness. 'Tis that which makes you love, 
'tis that which supports it, when once it has caused it : that 
is the cause and the nutriment of the delightful malady. 

If you remove all idleness, the bow of Cupid is broken, 
and his torch lies despised and without its light. As much as 
the plane-tree 9 delights in wine, the multitude in the stream, 
and as much as the reed of the marsh in a slimy soil, so much 
does Venus love idleness. You who seek a termination of 
your passion, attend to your business ; love gives way before 
business ; then you will be safe. Inactivity, and immoderate 
slumbers under no control, gaming too, and the temples 
aching through much wine, take away all strength from the 
mind that is free from a wound. Love glides insidiously 
upon the unwary. That Boy is wont to attend upon sloth- 
fulness ; he hates the busy. Give to the mind that is un- 
employed some task with which it may be occupied. There are 
the Courts, there are the laws, there are your friends for you 
to defend. 10 Go into the ranks 11 white with the civic gown ; 
or else do you take up with the youthful duties of blood- 
stained Mars ; soon will voluptuousness turn its back on you. 

9 Plane-tree.] — Ver. 141. The shade of this tree was much valued as 
a place of resort for convivial parties. Wine was sometimes poured upon 
its roots. 

10 To defend.]— N ex. 151. See the Fasti, Book i. 1. 22, and the Note. 

11 Into the ranks. ]— Ver. 152. He recommends the idle man to become 
a candidate for public honours : on which occasion, the party canvassing 
wore a white ' toga,' whence he was called ' candidatus,' literally, ' one 
clothed in white.' 



155—185.] OR, THE EEMEDY OF LOVE. 469 

Lo ! the flying Parthian, 12 a recent cause for a great triumph, 
is now beholding the arms of Caesar on his own plains. Con- 
quer equally the arrows of Cupid and of the Parthians, and 
bring back a two-fold trophy to the Gods of your country. 
After Yenus had once been wounded by the iEtolian 13 spear, 
she entrusted wars to be waged by her lover. 

Do you enquire why JEgisthus became an adulterer ? The 
cause is self-evident ; he was an idler. Others were fighting 
at Ilium, with slowly prospering arms : the whole of Greece 
had transported thither her strength. If he would have given 
his attention to war, she was nowhere waging it ; u or if to the 
Courts of law, Argos was free from litigation. What he 
could, he did ; that he might not be doing nothing, he fell in 
love. Thus does that Boy make his approaches, so does that 
Boy take up his abode. 

The country, too, soothes the feelings, and the pursuits of 
agriculture : any anxiety whatever may give way before this em- 
ployment. Bid the tamed oxen place their necks beneath their 
burden, that the crooked ploughshare may wound the hard 
ground. Cover the grain of Ceres with the earth turned up, 
which the field may restore to you with bounteous interest. 
Behold the branches bending beneath the weight of the apples; 
how its own tree can hardly support the weight which it has 
produced. See the rivulets trickling along with their pleasing 
murmur ; see the sheep, as they crop the fertile mead. Be- 
hold how the she-goats clirub the rocks, and the steep crags ; 
soon will they be bringing back their distended udders for 
their kids. The shepherd is tuning his song on the unequal 
reeds ; the dogs, too, a watchful throng, are not far off. In 
another direction the lofty woods are resounding with low- 
ings ; and the dam is complaining that her calf is missing. 
Why name the ^wzewhen the swarms fly from the yew trees,' 5 

12 Flying Parthian.] — Yer. 155. See the Art of Love, Book i. 1. 177, 
and the Note. 

13 JEtolian.] — Yer. 159. iEtolia was the native country of Diomedes. 

14 Waging it.] — Yer. 165. He might have gone to Troy, and taken part 
in that war ; unless, indeed, as Ovid hints in another passage, his intrigue 
did not commence with Clytemnestra till after Troy had fallen, and Cas- 
sandra had become the captive of Agememnon. 

15 Fig from the yew trees.'] — Yer. 185. ' Fumos,' ' smoke,' is a better 
reading here than ' taxos,' ' yews,' inasmuch as the swarm of bees would 
be driven away by smoke, but not by the yew, which was not noxious to 



470 EEMEDIA AMOEIS ; [185—214. 

placed beneath them, that the honey-combs removed may re- 
lieve the bending osiers 16 of their weight? Autumn affords 
its fruit ; summer is beauteous with its harvests ; spring pro- 
duces flowers ; winter is made cheerful by the fire. At stated 
periods the rustic pulls the ripened grape, and beneath his 
naked foot the juice flows out ; at stated periods he binds up 
the dried hay, and clears the mowed ground with the wide 
toothed rake. 

You yourself may set the plant in the watered garden ; you 
yourself may form the channels for the trickling stream. The 
grafting 17 is now come ; make branch adopt branch, and let 
one tree stand covered with the foliage of another. When 
once these delights have begun to soothe your mind, Love, 
robbed of his power, departs with flagging wings. 

Or do you follow the pursuit of hunting. Full oft has 
Venus, overcome by the sister of Phoebus, retreated in disgrace. 
Now follow the fleet hare with the quick-scented hound ; 
now stretch your toils on the shady mountain ridge. Or else, 
alarm the timid deer with the variegated feather-foils ; 17 * or let 
the boar fall, transfixed by the hostile spear. Fatigued, at 
night sleep takes possession of you, not thoughts of the fair ; 
and with profound rest it refreshes the limbs. 'Tis a more 
tranquil pursuit, still it is a pursuit, on catching the bird, 
to win the humble prize, either with the net or with the bird- 
limed twigs ; or else, to hide the crooked hooks of brass in 
morsels at the end, which the greedy fish may, to its destruction, 
swallow with its' ravenous jaws. Either by these, or by other 
pursuits, must you by stealth be beguiled by yourself, until 
you shall have learnt how to cease to love. 

Only do you go, although you shall be detained by strong 
ties, go far away, and commence your progress upon a distant 

the swarm, though it was thought to make the honey of a poisonous na- 
ture, or bitter, according to Pliny. See the Amores, B. i. El. xii. 1. 10, 
and the Note. 

16 Bending osiers.]— Ver. 186. The beehives, if stationary, were made 
of brick, or baked cow dung ; if moveable, they were made from a hollow 
block of wood, cork, bark, earthenware, and, as in the present instance, 
wicker-work, or osier. Those of cork were deemed the best, and those of 
earthenware the worst, as being most susceptible to the variations of the 
temperature. 

17 The grafting.] — Ver. 195. The process of engrafting was performed 
in the spring. 

1T * Feather-foils.]— Ver. 203. See the Fasti, B. v. 1. 173, and the 
note. 



214—242.] OR, THE REMEDY OF LOYE. 4/1 

journey. You will weep when the name of your forsaken 
mistress shall recur to you : and many a time will your foot 
linger in the middle of your path. But the less willing you 
shall be to go, remember the more surely to go ; persist ; and 
compel your feet to hasten, however unwillingly. And don't 
you fear showers ; nor let the Sabbaths 18 of the stranger detain 
you ; nor yet the Allia, 19 so well known for its disasters. And 
don't enquire how many miles you have travelled, but how 
many are yet remaining for you ; and invent no excuses, that 
you may remain near at hand. Neither do you count the 
hours, nor oft look back on Rome : but fly ; still is 20 the 
Parthian secure in flight from his foe. 

Some one may style my precepts harsh : I confess that 
they are harsh ; but that you may recover, you will have to 
endure much that is to be lamented. Full oft, when ill, I have 
drunk of bitter potions, though reluctantly ; and when I 
entreated for it, food has been refused me. To cure your 
body, you will have to endure iron and fire ; and though 
thirsty, you will not refresh your parched lips with water. 
That you may be healed in spirit, will you refuse to submit to 
anything? Inasmuch as that part is ever of greater value than 
the body. But still, most difficult is the access to my art ; and 
the one labour is how to endure the first moments of separa- 
tion. Do you perceive how the yoke, at first, galls the oxen 
when caught ? how the new girth hurts the flying steed ? 

Perhaps you will be loth to depart from your paternal home. 
But still you will depart ; then you will be longing to return. 
No paternal home, 21 but the love of your mistress, cloaking 
its own faultiness by specious words, will be calling you back. 
When once you have gone, the country, and your companions, 
and the long journey will afford a thousand solaces for your 

18 Nor let the Sabbaths.'] — Ver. 219. It is supposed that the Romans in 
some measure imitated the Jews in the observance of their Sabbath, by 
setting apart every seventh day for the worship of particular Deities. See 
the Art of Love, Book i. lines 76 and 416, and the Notes. 

19 Allia.]— Ver. 220. See the Art of Love, Book i. 1. 413 ; and the 
Ibis, 1. 221, and the Notes. 

20 Still is. ]— Ver. 224. By the use of the word « adhuc,' < still,' or 
' up to this time,' he intends to pay a compliment to Augustus, by implying 
that they will not long remain unconquered. 

21 Paternal home.] — Ver. 239, Literally, ' paternal Lar.' On the Lares, 
see the Fasti, Book i. 1. 136 ; and Book v. 1. 140, and the Notes. 



472 EEMEDIA AMORIS ; [242—270. 

sorrow. And do not think it is enough to depart ; be absent 
for a long time, until the flame has lost its power and the ashes 
are without their fire. If you shall hasten to return, except 
with your judgment strengthened, rebellious Love will be 
wielding his cruel arms against you. Suppose that, although 
you shall have absented yourself, you return both hungry and 
thirsty ; will not all this delay even act to your detriment ? 

If any one supposes that the noxious herbs of the Hsemo- 
nian lands and magic arts can be of avail, let him see to it. 
That is the old-fashioned method of sorcery; my Apollo, in his 
hallowed lines, is pointing out an innoxious art. Under my 
guidance, no ghost shall be summoned to come forth 22 from 
the tomb ; no hag with her disgusting spells shall cleave the 
ground. No crops of corn shall remove from one field into 
another ; nor shall the disk of Phoebus suddenly be pale. 
Tiberinus 23 shall flow into the waves of the ocean just as he is 
wont ; just as she is wont, shall the Moon be borne by her 
snow-white steeds. No breasts shall lay aside their cares 
dispelled by enchantments ; vanquished by virgin sulphur, 24 
love shall not take to flight. 

Colchian damsel, what did the herbs of the Phasian land 
avail thee, when thou didst desire to remain in thy native home? 
Of what use, Circe, were the herbs of thy mother Persa to thee, 
when the favouring breeze bore away the barks of Neritos? 25 
Every thing didst thou do that thy crafty guest might not 
depart ; still did he give his filled sails to an assured flight. 
Every thing didst thou do that the fierce flames might not 
consume thee ; still a lasting passion settled deep in thy 
reluctant breast. Thou, who wast able to change men into a 
thousand shapes, wast not able to change the bent of thy own 

22 To come forth.'] — Ver. 250. See the Amores, Booki. El. viii. 1. 17, 
18, and the Note. This achievement is similar to that performed by the 
•witch of Endor, if, indeed, she did not impose on the unhappy Saul, and 
tell him that the spirit of Samuel appeared, when that really was not the 
case. 

23 Tiberinus ]— Ver. 257. See the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 389, and the Note. 
Also Book iv. 1. 47 ; the Ibis, 1. 516 ; and the Metamorphoses, Book xiv. 
1. 614. 

24 Virgin sulphur.]— Vet. 260. See the Art of Love, Book ii. 1. 329, 
and the Note. 

25 Neritos.'] — Ver. 264. This island formed part of the realms of 
Ulysses. 



270—305.] OE, THE EEMEDY OF LOVE. 4 "3 

inclination. Thou art said to have detained the Dulichian 
chief, 26 when now he wished to depart, even in these words : 

" I do not now entreat that which, as I remember, I was 
at first wont to hope for, that thou shouldst consent to be 
my husband. And still, I did seem worthy to be thy wife, 
since I was a Goddess, since I was the daughter of the Sun. 
Hasten not away, I entreat thee ; a little delay, as a favour, 
do I ask. What less can be prayed for by my entreaties ? 
Thou seest, too, that the seas are troubled ; and of them thou 
oughtst to stand in dread. Before long, the winds will be 
more favourable to thy sails. What is the cause of thy flight 1 
No Troy is rising here anew ; no fresh Rhesus is calling his 
companions to arms. Here love abides, here peace exists ; 
during which I alone am fatally wounded : the whole, too, of 
my realms shall be under thy sway." 

She thus spoke ; Ulysses unmoored his bark ; the South 
winds bore away her unavailing words together with his sails. 
Circe was inflamed, and had recourse to her wonted arts ; and 
still by them her passion was not diminished. 

Come, then, whoever you are, that require aid from my 
skill, away with all belief in spells and charms. If some 
weighty reason shall detain you in the City mistress of the 
world, hear what is my advice in the City. He is the best 
assertor of his liberties who bursts the chains that gall his 
breast, and once for all ceases to grieve. If any one has so 
much courage, even I myself will admire him, and I shall say, 
" This man stands in no need of my admonitions." You who 
with difficulty are learning how not to love the object which 
you love ; who are not able, and still would wish to be able, 
will require to be instructed by me. Full oft recall to your 
remembrance the deeds of the perfidious fair one, and place 
all your losses before your eyes. Say, "This thing and that 
of mine does she keep ; and not content with that spoliation, 
she has put up for sale 27 my paternal home. Thus did she 
swear to me; thus having sworn, did she deceive me. How oft 
has she suffered me to he before her doors ! She herself loves 

26 Dulichian chief.'] — Ver. 272. Dulichium was one of the Echinades, a 
group of islands on the western side of the Peloponnesus, and was subject 
to Ulysses. See the Metamorphoses, Book viii. 1. 590, and the Note. 

27 Put up for sale.] — Ver. 302. Through her extravagance. 



474 EEMEDIA AMOEIS ; [305—336. 

other men ; by me she loathes to be loved. Some hawker, 26 , 
alas ! enjoys those nights which she grants not to myself." 

Let all these points ferment throughout your entire feelings ; 
repeat them over and over ; hence seek the first germs of 
your hate. And would that you could be even eloquent 
upon them ! Do you only grieve ; of your own accord you 
will be fluent. My attentions were lately paid to a certain 
fair one; to my passion she was not favourably disposed. 
Sick, like Podalirius, 29 I cured myself with the proper herbs, 
and (I confess it) though a physician, to my shame, I was sick. 
It did me good to be ever dwelling upon the failings of my 
mistress ; and that, when done, often proved wholesome for 
me. " How ill formed," I used to say, " are the legs of my 
mistress !" and yet, to confess the truth, they were not. 
" How far from beautiful are the arms of my mistress I" and 
yet, to confess the truth, they were. " How short she is !" 
and yet she was not ; " How much does she beg of her lover 1" 
From that arose the greatest cause of my hatred. 

There are good qualities, too, near akin to bad ones ; by 
reason of confounding one for the other, 30 a virtue has often 
borne the blame for a vice. So far as you can, depreciate 
the endowments of the fair one, and impose upon your own 
judgment by the narrow line that separates good from bad. 
If she is embonpoint, let her be called flabby, if she is swar- 
thy, black. Leanness may be charged against her slender 
form. She, too, who is not coy may be pronounced bold ; 
and if she is discreet, she may be pronounced a prude. 
Besides, in whatever accomplishment your mistress is defi- 
cient, ever be entreating her, in complimentary accents, to 
turn her attention to the same. If any damsel is without a 
voice, request her to sing ; if any fair one does not know how 
to move her hands 31 with gracefulness, make her dance. Is she 
uncouth in her language, make her talk frequently to you ; has 
she not learnt how to touch the strings, call for the lyre. 

28 Some hawker.] — Ver. 306. See the Art of Love, Book i. 1. 421, and 
the Note. Being mostly liberated slaves, the ' institores ' were looked 
upon with great contempt by the Romans. 

29 Podalirius.]— Ver. 313. See the Art of Love, Book ii. 1. 735, and 
the Note. 

30 Confounding one for the other.] — Ver. 323. ' Errore sub illo.' Lite- 
rally, ' under that mistake.' 

31 Move her hands, .] — Ver. 334. He alludes to the gestures used in 
dancing. 



337—366.] OK, THE REMEDY OE LOVE. 475 

Does she walk heavily, make her walk ; does a swelling bosom 
cover all her breast, let no stomacher 32 conceal it. If her 
teeth are bad, tell her something for her to laugh at : is she 
tender-eyed, relate something for her to weep at. 

It will be of use, too, for you, early in the morning sud- 
denly, to turn your hasty steps towards your mistress, when she 
has dressed for no one. By dress are we enchanted ; by gems 
and gold all things are concealed ; the fair one herself is but a 
very trifling part of herself. Often, amid objects so many, you 
may inquire what it is that you love. By this iEgis 33 does Love, 
amid his riches, deceive the eye. Come unexpectedly ; in safety 
to yourself you will find her unarmed ; to her misfortune, 
through her own failings will she fall. Still, it is not safe to 
trust too much to this precept, for without the resources fl/>art 
a graceful form captivates many. At the moment, too, when 
she shall be smearing her face with the cosmetics laid on it, 
you may come in the presence of your mistress, and don't let 
shame prevent you. You will find there boxes, and a thousand 
colours of objects ; and you will see cesypum, the ointment 
of the fleece^ trickling down and flowing upon her heated 
bosom. These drugs, Phineus, smell like thy tables ; 35 not 
once only has sickness been caused by this to my stomach. 

Now will I disclose to you, what should be done in the 
moments of your transport ; from every quarter must love be 
put to flight. Many of them, indeed, I am ashamed to mention ; 
but do you conceive in your imagination even more than lies in 
my words. For, of late, certain persons have been blaming 
my treatises, in the opinion of whom my Muse is wanton. If 
I only please, and so long as I am celebrated all the world 
over, let this person or that attack my work just as he likes. 
Envy detracts from the genius of mighty Homer ; whoever 
thou art, from him, Zoilus, 36 dost thou derive thy fame. 

32 Stomacher.']— Ver. 338. See the Art of Love, Book iii. 1. 374, and 
the Note. 

33 This Mgis.]—Xer. 346. See the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 848, and the 
Note ; also the Metamorphoses, Book iv. 1. 798. 

34 Of the fleece.]— Vex. 354. See the Art of Love, Book iii. 1. 213, and 
the Note. Surely Swift must have borrowed his notion of describing 
Chloe's dressing-room from these passages. See the Art of Love, Book i. 
1. 339, and the Note. 

35 Smell like thy tables.'] — Ver. 355. He alludes to the defilement of 
the tables of Phineus by the filthy Harpies. 

56 From him, Zoilus.'] — Ver. 366. It was unknown of what parentage and 



476 EEMEDIA AMORIS; [367—384. 

Sacrilegious hands have also mangled thy poems, 37 thou, 
under whose guidance Troy brought hither her conquered 
Divinities. Envy takes a lofty flight ; on high the breezes 
sweep along ; the lightnings hurled by the right hand of Jove 
take a lofty range. 

But you, whoever you are, whom my freedom offends, re- 
quire, if you are wise, each subject for its proper numbers. 38 
Bold warfare delights to be related in the Maeonian measure. 
What place can there be there for gentle dalliance ? The 
Tragedians speak in lofty tones ; anger befits the buskin of 
Tragedy ; the sock of Comedy™ must be furnished from the 
manners of every-day life. The free Iambic measure may be 
launched against the hostile foe ; whether it be rapid, or 
whether it drag on its foot 40 at its close. Soft Elegy should 
sing of the Loves with their quivers, and the sprightly mistress 
ought to sport according to her own inclination. Achilles is 
not to be celebrated in the numbers of Callimachus ; Cydippe 41 
belongs not, Homer, to thy song. Who could endure Thais 
performing the part of Andromache ? 42 If any one were to act 
Thais in the tones of Andromache, he would be making a 

country Zoilus was. He compiled a work in dispraise of Homer, and 
was called by the ancients, '• Homeromastix,' ' the scourge of Homer.' 
Zoilus was ultimately accused of parricide, and crucified. 

37 Mangled thy poems. .] — Ver. 367. He alludes to Virgil, who, he says, 
had his censurers as well. Carvilius Picto wrote a satire against the iEneid, 
called ^neidomastix. 

38 p r0 p er numbers.} — Ver. 372. He adroitly avows the essence of the 
charge, by defending the Elegiac measure, in which he had written, and 
which could not be the object of any censures. He does not say a word 
in defence of the subject matter, which had incurred these remarks. 

39 The sock of Comedy. 1— -V er. 376. The ' soccus ' was a low shoe, 
which did not fit closely, and had no tie. These shoes were worn among 
the Greeks by both men and women. The ' soccus ' was worn by comic 
actors, and was in this respect opposed to the ' cothurnus,' or ' buskin,' 
of Tragedy. 

40 Drag on its foot."]— Ver. 378. He alludes first to a genuine Iambic 
line, ending with an Iambus, and then to a Scazonic line, so called from 
the Greek word, <Ttca£ujv ' limping,' which was a kind of bastard Iambic 
line, having a Trochee (or foot of a long and a short syllable) in the last 
place, instead of an Iambus. Scazonic lines were much used in satirical 
composition. 

41 Cydippe.] — Ver. 382. Callimachus wrote a poem on the loves of 
Acontius and Cydippe. See Epistles xx and xxi. 

4i Andromache.] — Ver. 383. She was a heroine of Tragedy, while 
Thais, the courtesan, figured in the Eunuchus, a Comedy of Terence. 



381—419.] Ofi, THE KEAIEDY OP LOYE. 477 

mistake. Thais belongs to my pursuit ; licence unrestrained 
belongs to me. Nought have I to do with the fillet of 
chastity; Thais belongs to my pursuit. If my Muse is befit- 
ting a sportive subject, I have conquered, and on a false 
charge she has been accused. 

Burst thyself, gnawing Envy ; now have I gained great 
fame ; 'twill be still greater, let it only proceed with the steps 
with which it has commenced. But you are making too great 
haste ; let me only live, you shall have more to complain of; 
my intentions, too, embrace full many a poem. For it gives 
me delight, and my zeal increases with my eagerness for fame ; 
at the beginning of the ascent only is my steed now panting. 
Elegy acknowledges that to me she is as much indebted as is 
the noble Epic 43 to Virgil. 

Thus far do I give an answer to Envy ; tighten the reins 
with more vigour, and speed onward, Poet, in thy circle. 

Ergo ubi concubitus, et opus juvenile petetur ; 

Et prope prornissae tempora noctis erunt ; 
Gaudia ne dominse, pleno si pectore sumes, 

Te capiant : ineas quamlibet ante velim. 
Quamlibet invenias, in qua tibi prima voluptas 

Desinat : a prima proxima segnis erit. 
Sustentata Yenus gratissima : frigore soles, 

Sole juvant umbrae : grata fit unda siti. 
Et pudet, et dicam, Yenerem quoque junge figura, 

Qua minime jungi quamque decere putes. 

And 'tis no hard matter to do this ; few women confess the 
truth to themselves ; and there is no point in which they think 
that they are unbecoming. Then, too, I recommend you to 
open all the windows, and to remark in full daylight the limbs 
that are unsightly. But as soon as your transports have come 
to a termination, and the body with the mind lies entirely ex- 
hausted ; while you are feeling regret, and wishing that you 
had formed a connexion with no female, and are seeming to 
yourself that for a long time you will have nothing to do with 
another; then note in your memory whatever blemishes there 
are in her person ; and keep your eyes always fixed upon her 
faulty points. 

Perhaps some one will pronounce these matters trivial (for in- 

43 Noble Epic] — Ver. 396. 'Epos' seems preferable here to 'opus,' 
the common reading. 



4/8 EEMEDIA AMOETS ; [419—455. 

deed they are so) ; but things which, singly, are of no avail, 
when united are of benefit. The little viper kills with its 
sting the bulky bull ; by the dog that is not large, full oft is 
the boar held fast. Do you only fight with a number of them, 
and unite my precepts together ; from so many there will 
be a large amount. But since there are so many ways and 
attitudes, every point is not to be yielded to my recommenda- 
tions. Perhaps, in the opinion of another, that will be a fault, 
by the doing of which your feelings may not be hurt. Be- 
cause this person, perchance, has seen the charms of the 
naked person exposed, his passion, which was in mid career, 
stops short : another, when his mistress has received him, has 
been shocked at some sight which creates disgust. 43 * 

Alas ! if these things could influence you, you are trifling ; 
torches but luke-warm have been influencing your breast. 
That Boy would more strongly draw his bended bow : you, ye 
wounded throng, will need more a substantial aid. What 
think you of the man who lies concealed, and beholds sights 
that usage itself forbids him to see ? May the Gods forbid 
that I should advise any one to adopt such a course ! Though 
it should prove of use, still it should not be tried. 

I advise you, also, to have two mistresses at the same time. 
If a person can have still more, he is more secure. When the 
feelings, sundered into two parts, are wavering in each direc- 
tion, the one passion diminishes the strength of the other. 
By many streamlets are great rivers lessened, and the exhausted 
flame, the fuel withdrawn, goes out. But one anchor does 
not sufficiently hold the waxed ships ; a single hook is not 
enough for the flowing stream. He who beforehand has pro- 
vided for himself a twofold solace, has already proved the 
victor in the lofty citadel. But, by you, who, to your mis- 
fortune, have devoted yourself to but one mistress, now, at all 
events, a new passion must be sought. For Procris 44 did 
Minos abandon his flame for Pasiphae ; overcome by the 
wife from Ida, 45 the first wife gave way. Calirrhoe, received to 
a share of his couch, caused the brother of 46 Amphilochus not 

43 * Disgust."] — Ver. 432. This passage and that in 1. 437, are neees- 
sa ily somewhat modified. 

4i Procris.] — Ver. 453. See the Translation of the Metamorphoses, 
p 262. 

45 Wife from Ida."] — Ver. 454. He refers to Clytemnestra heing sup- 
planted by Cassandra. 

4J The'brother of.]-— Ver. 455. Alcmrcon was married to Alphesibea, 



455—484.] OK, THE REMEDY OF LOTE. 4/9 

ilways to be in love with the daughter of Phegeus. (En one, 
too, would have retained Paris to her latest years, if she had 
not been supplanted by her (Ebalian rival. The beauty of 
his wife would have pleased the Odrysian 47 tyrant, but supe- 
rior were the charms of her imprisoned sister. 

Why occupy myself with illustrations, the number of which 
exhausts me ? Every passion is conquered by a fresh successor. 
With greater fortitude does a mother regret one out of many, 
than she who, 48 weeping, exclaims : "Thou wast my only one." 
But lest, perchance, you should suppose that I am framing new 
laws for you, (and would that the glory of the discovery were 
my own !) the son of Atreus perceived this ; for what could 
he not see, under whose command was the whole of Greece 1 
He, victorious, loved Chryseis, captured by his own arms ; but 
her aged parent foolishly went crying in every direction. Why 
dost thou weep, troublesome old man 1 They are well suited 
for each other. By thy affection, foolish man, thou art doing an 
injury to thy child. After Calchas, secure under the protec- 
tion of Achilles, had ordered 49 her to be restored, and she was 
received back to the house of her father : " There is," said 
the son of Atreus, "another fair one very closely resembling her 
beauty ; and if the first syllable 50 would allow of it, the 
name ivould be the same ; Achilles, if he were wise, would give 
her up to me of his own accord ; if not, he will experience 
my might. But if any one of you, ye Greeks, disapproves of 
this deed ; 'tis something to wield the sceptre with a power- 
ful hand. For if I am your king, and if she does not pass 
her nights with me, then let Thersites succeed to my sway." 
Thus he said ; and he had her as his great consolation for her 
predecessor ; and the first passion was entombed in a new 

the daughter of Phegeus, and deserted her for Calirrhoe, the daughter of 
the river Achelous. 

47 Odrysian.] — Ver. 459. He here alludes to the story of Tereus and 
Progne. 

48 Than she who.'] — Ver. 464. 'Quae' seems to he a preferable reading 
to ' cui ;' though in either case the sense is the same. Ovid had probably 
the instance of Niobe in his mind, when he wrote this passage. See the 
Metamorphoses, B. vi. 1. 297. 

49 Had ordered.']— -Ver. 473. See the Introduction to the Epistle of 
Briseis to Achilles. 

50 If the first syllable.] — Ver. 476. Ovid, with his propensity for play- 
ing upon words, remarks upon the similarity of the names, Chry-seis and 
Bri-seis ; the one being the daughter of Chryses, and the other of Brises. 



480 BEMEDIA. AMORIS; [485—515. 

passion. By the example, then, of Agamemnon, admit a fresh 
name, that your love may be severed in two directions. Do 
you inquire where you are to find them ? Go and read through 
my treatises on the art of Love ; then may your bark speed 
on, well freighted with the fair. 

But if my precepts are of any avail, if by my lips Apollo 
teaches aught that is advantageous to mortals ; although, to your 
misfortune, you should be burning in the midst of iEtna, take 
care to appear to your mistress more cold than ice. Pretend, 
too, that you are unhurt ; if, perchance, you should grieve at 
all, let her not perceive it ; and laugh when, within yourself, 
you could have wept. I do not bid you to sever your passion 
in the very midst ; the laws of my sway are not so harsh as 
that. Pretend to be that which you are not, and feign that 
your ardour is renounced ; so, in reality, you will become 
what you are practising to be. Often, that I might not 
drink, I have wished to appear asleep ; 51 while I have so seemed, 
I have surrendered my conquered eyes to slumber. I have 
laughed at his being deceived, who was pretending that he 
was in love ; and the fowler has fallen into his own nets. 

Through habit does love enter the mind ; through habit is it 
forgotten. He who will be able to pretend that he is unhurt, 
will be unhurt. Does she tell you to come on a night appointed, 
do you come. Should you come, and the gate be closed ; put 
up with it. Neither utter blandishments, nor yet utter re- 
proaches against the door-post, and do not lay down your 
sides upon the hard threshold. The next morning comes ; let 
your words be without complaints, and bear no signs of grief 
upon your features. She will soon lay aside her haughtiness, 
when she shall see you growing cool: this advantage, too, will 
you be gaining from my skill. And yet do you deceive yourself 
as well, and let not this 52 be the end of your love. Full oft 
does the horse struggle against the reins when presented. Let 

51 Appear asleep.] — Ver. 499. See the Amores, B. ii. El. v. 1. 13. 

52 And let not this.] — Yen. 513. The reading of this line and the 
next is probably corrupt. Burmann suggests that ' propositus ' should be 
substituted for ' propositis,' and that the stop should be removed from the 
end of ' amandi,' and a semicolon placed after ' propositus.' In that case, 
the meaning would be, ' You must, however, act the deceiver to yourself, 
and must not make any determination to cease altogether from loving her ; 
lest, as the horse struggles against the rein, your affection should rebel 
against such a determination.' 



515—551.] OR, THE REMEDY OF LOVE. 48 L 

your object lie concealed ; that will come to pass which you 
shall not avow, The nets that are too easily seen, the bird 
avoids. 

Let her not congratulate herself so much that she can hold 
you in contempt ; take courage, that to your courage she may 
yield. Her door is open, perchance ; though she should call 
you back, do you go out. A night is named ; doubt whether 
you can come on the night appointed. 'Tis an easy thing to be 
able to endure this ; unless you are deficient in wisdom, you 
may more readily derive amusement from one more conde- 
scending. And can any person call my precepts harsh ? Why, I 
am acting the part of a reconciler even. For as some disposi- 
tions vary, I am varying my precepts as well. There are a thou- 
sand forms of the malady ; a thousand/o^ms of cure will there 
be. Some bodies are with difficulty healed by the sharp iron: 
potions and herbs have proved an aid to many. You are too 
weak, and cannot go away, and are held in bonds, and cruel 
Love is treading your neck beneath his foot. Cease your 
struggling ; let the winds bring back your sails ; and whither 
the tide calls you, thither let your oars proceed. 

That thirst, parched by which you are perishing, must be 
satisfied by you ; I permit it ; now may you drink in the 
midst of the stream. But drink even more than what your 
appetite requires ; make the water you have swallowed flow 
back from your filled throat. Always enjoy the company of 
your mistress, no one preventing it ; let her occupy your 
nights, her your days. Make satiety your object; satiety puts 
an end to evils even. And even now, when you think you 
can do without her, do you remain with her. Until you have 
fully cloyed yourself, and satiety removes your passion, let it 
not please you to move from the house you loathe. That love, 
too, which distrust nurtures, is of long endurance ; should you 
wish to lay this aside, lay aside your apprehensions. Who 
fears that she may not be his own, and that some one may 
rob him of her, that person will be hardly curable with the 
skill of Machaon. Of two sons, a mother generally loves him 
the most, for whose return she feels apprehensions, because 
he is bearing arms. 

There is, near the Collinian 53 gate, a venerable temple ; the 
lofty Eryx gave this temple its name. There, is Lethaean Love, 

53 Collinian.']— Ver. 549. See the Fasti, B. iv. 1. 872, and the Note. 

I I 



482 JBEMEDIA AMOHIS ; [551—574. 

who heals the mind ; and in cold water does he place his torches. 
There, too, in their prayers, do the youths pray for forgetful- 
ness ; and any fair one, if she has been smitten by an obdurate 
man. He thus said to me ; (I am in doubt whether it was the 
real Cupid, or whether a vision ; but I think it was a vision.) 
" Naso, thou who dost sometimes cause, sometimes re- 
lieve, the passion full of anxiety, add this to thy precepts as 
well. Let each person recall to mind his own mishaps ; let 
him dismiss love ; to all has the Deity assigned more or less 
of woes. He that stands in awe of the Puteal 54 and of Janus, 55 
and of the Calends swiftly coming, let the borrowed sum 
of money be his torment. He whose father is harsh, though 
other things should prove to his wish, before his eyes must his 
harsh father be placed. Another one is living wretchedly 
with a wife poorly dowried, let him think that his wife is an 
obstacle to his fortune. You have a vineyard, on a generous 
soil, fruitful in choice grapes, ; be in dread lest the shooting 
grape should be blighted. Another has a ship on its return 
home ; 66 let him be always thinking that the sea is boisterous, 
and that the sea-shore is polluted by his losses. Let a son in 
service 57 be the torment of one, a marriageable daughter of 
yourself. And who is there that has not a thousand causes for 
anxiety ? That, Paris, thou mightst hate thine own cause of 
sorrow, thou oughtst to have placed the deaths of thy brothers 
before thine eyes." 

54 The Puteal.'] — Ver. 561. ' Puteal ' properly means the enclosure 
which surrounds the opening of a well, to prevent persons from falling 
into it. The ' Puteal ' here referred to was that called ' Puteal Scriboni- 
anum,' or ' Libonis,' and was situate in the Forum, near the Fabian arch. 
Scribonius Libo erected in its neighbourhood a tribunal for the Praetor, in 
consequence of which the place was frequented by persons engaged in 
litigation, especially by debtors and creditors ; to which circumstance 
reference is here made. 

55 And Janus.) — Ver. 56L He probably refers to the fact of the tem- 
ple of Janus being near the Puteal, and the tribunal of the Praetor. The 
Calends, or first of January, was the time when money lent became due, 
and on the same day was the Festival of Janus. See the Fasti, B. f. 1. 89. 

56 On its return home.] — Ver. 569. ' In reditu ' may certainly mean 
'upon its return;' but Burmann thinks that 'reditus' here means 'a source 
of income,' and that the passage alludes to the man whose only property 
is his ship. 

57 In service.] — Ver. 571.' Those who were old enough to have sons 
in service, or marriageable daughters, were certainly unworthy of the Poet's 
sympathy or advice. 



574—605.] OB, THE KEHEDY OF LOYE. 4.83 

Still more was he saying, when the childish form deserted 
my placid slumber, if slumber only it was. What am I to 
do ? In the midst of the waves Palinurus 58 deserts my bark; I 
am forced to enter on an unknown track. Whoever you are 
that love, avoid solitary spots ; solitary spots are injurious. 
Whither are you flying ? In the throng you may be in greater 
safety. You have no need of lonely places (lonesome spots in- 
crease the frenzy) ; the multitude will bring you aid. You 
will be sad, if you are alone ; and before your eyes will stand 
the form of your forsaken mistress, as though her own self. 
For this reason is the night more melancholy than the hours 
of sunshine ; the throng of your companions is then wanting 
to moderate your affliction. 

And fly not from conversation, nor let your door be closed ; 
and do not, in tears, hide your countenance in the shade. 
Always have aPyladesto console his Orestes ; this, too, will prove 
no slight advantage in friendship. What but the solitary woods 
injured Phyllis ? The cause of her death is well known ; she 
was without a companion. She was going, just as the barba- 
rous multitude celebrating the triennial 5y sacrifice to the Edo- 
nian 60 Bacchus, is wont to go, with dishevelled locks. And 
at one time, as far as she could, she looked out upon the 
wide ocean ; at another, in her weariness, she lay her down 
upon the sandy shore. " Perfidious Demophoon I" she cried 
aloud to the deaf waves ; and her words, as she grieved, were 
interrupted by sobs. There was a narrow path, a little dark- 
ened by the long shadows, along which, full oft, did she turn 
her steps towards the sea. Her ninth journey was being 
paced by her in her wretchedness. " See thou to this," says 
she ; and, turning pale, she eyes her girdle. She looks, too, 
on the boughs ; she hesitates, and she recoils at that which she 
dares to do; and she shudders, and then she raises her fingers 
to her throat. 

Sithonian damsel, I would that, then, at least, thou hadst 

£8 Palinurus.] — Ver. 577. The pilot of ^Eneas, who was drowned off 
the coast of Italy. See the iEneid of Virgil. 

59 Triennial.'] — Ver. 593. See the Metamorphoses, Book vi. 1. 587 ; 
and the Fasti, Book i. 1. 394, and the Notes. 

60 Edonian.']— Ver. 594. See the Tristia, Book iv. El. i. 1. 42, and the 
Note. 

i l 2 



484 REMEDIA AMORIS ; [605—641. 

not been alone ; ye woods, your foliage lost, 61 you would not 
then have lamented Phyllis. Ye men that are offended by 
your mistresses, ye fair that are affronted by the men, from 
the example of Phyllis, shun too lonesome spots. A youth had 
done whatever my Muse recommended him, and was almost 
in the haven of his safety. When he came amid the eager 
lovers, he relapsed, and Love resumed the weapons which he 
had laid aside. If any one of you is loving, and does not wish 
to do so ; do you take care, and avoid the contagion . This 
is often wont to injure the herds as well. While the eyes are 
looking on the wounded, they themselves are also wounded ; 
many things, too, injure the body by infection. Sometimes 
water flows from a river that runs near into a spot parched 
with its dry clods. Love flows on concealedly, if you do not 
withdraw from him who loves ; and we are all of us a set 
clever at running that risk. 

A second one had now been healed; his nearness to her 
affected him. He proved unable to endure meeting with 
his mistress. The scar, not sufficiently closed, changed again 
into the former wound ; and my skill met with no success. 
The fire next door is guarded against with difficulty ; 'tis pru- 
dent to keep away from the neighbouring haunts. Let not 
that Portico which is wont to receive her as she walks, receive 
you as well ; and let not the same attentions now be paid. 
Of what use is it to rekindle the feelings, that have cooled, 
by my advice ? Another region must be resorted to, if you 
can do so- When hungry, you will not be easily restrained, 
the table being laid ; the gushing water, too, provokes exces- 
sive thirst. 'Tis no easy matter to hold back the bull when 
he sees the heifer ; on seeing the mare, the high-mettled 
steed is always neighing after her. 

When this you have done, when at last you reach the shore, 
'tis not enough for you to have abandoned her. Both her 
sister and her mother must bid you farewell, her nurse, too, 
her confidant, and whatever other connexion there shall be of 
your mistress. And let no servant come ; and let no little 
handmaid, feigning to weep, say to you in the name of her 
mistress, "Hail!" 6a Nor yet, though you should desire to 

61 Your foliage lost.] — Ver. 606. He alludes to the story of the woods 
losing their leaves in their grief for Phyllis. 

6 - Hail!] — Ver. 640. Martial tells us that 'ave' was the morning 
salutation of the Romans. 



641—671.] OK, THE EEMEDT OF LOVE. 485 

know, should you ask how she is doing. Defer it ; the re- 
straint of the tongue will be to its own advantage. 

You, too, who are telling the cause of your liason being 
discontinued, and are relating many things to be complained 
of about your mistress ; forbear to complain ; so, by being 
silent, you will be taking a better revenge; until she shall vanish 
from your regrets. And I would rather that you were silent, 
than that you should talk about having cut her. The man 
who is too often saying to many a one, " I love her not," 
is still in love. But with greater certainty is the flame extin- 
guished by degrees, than all of a sudden ; cease gradually, 
and you will be safe. The torrent is wont to run with greater 
violence than the uninterrupted river ; but yet the one is a 
short-lived, the other a lasting, stream. Let love escape you, 
and let it depart vanishing into thin air, and let it die out by 
degrees imperceptible. 

But 'tis a crime to hate the fair one so lately loved ; such a 
termination as that is befitting a brutal disposition. 'Tis 
enough not to care for her ; he who terminates his love with 
hate, either still loves on, or with difficulty will cease to be 
wretched. 'Tis a shocking thing for a man and a woman so 
lately united to be enemies at once ; the Appian 63 Goddess her- 
self would not approve of such quarrels as those. Full oft 
do men accuse their mistresses, and still they love them ; 
where no discord arises, Love released, through advice, betakes 
himself away. 

By chance I was in the company 64 of a young man ; a litter 
contained his mistress ; all his expressions were shocking from 
his frightful threats ; and now, about to cite her at law, he said, 
" Let her come out of the litter !" She did come out ; on 
seeing his mistress, he was dumb. His hands both fell, and 
his two tablets from out of his hands. He rushed into her em- 
braces ; and "thus," said he, " do you prove the conqueror." 

'Tis more safe, and more becoming, to depart in peace, 
than from the chamber to repair to the litigious Courts. The 
presents which you have given her, request her to keep with- 

63 Jppian.]— Ver. 660. See the Art of Love, Book iii. 1. 451. 

64 In the company.'] — Ver. 663. Heinsius thinks, that by • aderam,' it 
is meant that Ovid was acting as the counsel of the youth. The young 
man had probably summoned his mi -tress, to restore his property "left in 
her possession. On the two tablets h.s case was written out. 



486 EEMEDIA AMOEIS ; [671—704. 

out litigation ; trivial losses are wont to be of great benefit. 
But if any accident should bring you together, keep those 
arms of defence which I am giving, firmly fixed in your mind. 
Then, there is need of arms ; here, most valorous man, use 
your energies. By your weapon must Penthesilea be over- 
come. Now let the rival, now the obdurate threshold, when 
you were her lover, recur to you ; now your words uttered in 
vain in presence of the Gods. Neither arrange your hair, be- 
cause you are about to approach her ; nor let your robe be 
seen with loose folds 63 upon the bosom. Have no care to be 
pleasing to the alienated fair one ; now make her to be one of 
the multitude so far as you are concerned. 

But I will tell what especially stands in the way of my 
endeavours ; his own example instructing each individual. 
We cease to love by slow degrees, because we hope to be loved 
ourselves ; and while each one is satisfying himself, we are ever 
a credulous set. But do you believe that, in her oaths, neither 
words (for what is there more deceptive than them ?) nor the 
immortal Deities have any weight. Take care, too, not to be 
moved by the tears of the fair ; they have instructed their eyes 
how to weep. By arts innumerable are the feelings of lovers 
laid siege to ; just as the rock that is beaten on every side by 
the waves of the sea. And do not disclose the reasons why 
you would prefer a separation, nor tell her what you take 
amiss ; still, to yourself, ever grieve on. 

And don't recount her failings, lest she should extenuate 
them. You yourself will prove indulgent ; so that her cause will 
prove better than your own cause. He that is silent, is strong 
in his resolution; he that utters many reproaches to the fair one, 
asks for himself to be satisfied by her justification. I would 
not venture, 66 after the example of him of Dulichium, to dip the 
vengeful arrows, nor the glowing torches, in the stream; I 
shall not clip the empurpled wings of the Boy, the God of Love ; 
nor through my skill shall his hallowed bow be unstrung. 
'Tis in accordance with prudence, whatever I sing. Give heed 
to me as I sing ; and Phoebus, giver of health, as thou art 
wont, be thou propitious to my attempts. 

65 Loose folds. ,] — Ver. 680. The Roman fops affected to wear the 'toga.' 
tightened into many creases at the waist, and as open as possible at the 
breast. 

66 Not venture.] — Ver. 699. He alludes to the abrupt departure of 
Ulysses from Calypso and Circe. 



705—734.] OB, THE BEMEDY OE LOTE. 487 

Phoebus is propitious ; his lyre sounds ; his quiver resounds. 
By his signs do I recognize the God ; Pho3bus is propitious. 
Compare the fleece that has been dyed in the cauldrons of 
Amyclae 67 with the Tyrian purple ; the former will be but dull. 
Do you, too, compare your charmers with the beauteous fair ; 
each one will begin to be ashamed of his own mistress. Both 
Juno and Pallas may have seemed beauteous to Paris : but 
Venus surpassed them both when compared with herself. 
And not the appearance only ; compare the manners and the 
accomplishments as well ; only let not your passion prejudice 
your judgment. 

What I shall henceforth sing is but trifling ; but trifling as 
it is, it has proved of service to many ; among whom I my- 
self was one. Take care not to read over again the letters that 
you have kept of the caressing fair one : letters, when read 
over again, shake even a firm determination. Put the whole of 
them (though unwillingly you should put them) into the de- 
vouring flames ; and say, " May this prove the funeral pile of 
my passion." The daughter of Thestius 68 burned her son 
Meleager afar off by means of the billet. Will you, with hesita- 
tion, commit the words of perfidy to the flames ? If you can, 
remove her waxen portrait™ as well. Why be moved by a 
dumb likeness ? By this means was Laodamia undone. Many 
localities, too, have bad effects : fly from the spots that were 
conscious of your embraces; a thousand grounds for sorrow do 
they contain. Here she has been ; here she has laid ; in that 
chamber have we slept ; here, in the voluptuous night, has she 
yielded to me her embraces. 

By recollection, love is excited afresh, and the wound re- 
newed is*opened ; a trifling cause is injurious to the sickly. As, 
if you were to touch ashes almost cold with sulphur, they would 
rekindle, and, from a small one, a very great fire would be pro- 
duced ; so, unless you avoid whatever renews love, the flame will 

67 Cauldrons of Amyclce.'] — Ver. 707. The purple dye of Amyclae, in 
Laconia, was of a very fair quality, but could not be compared with that 
of Tyre. 

68 Thestius.'] — Ver. 721. See the Metamorphoses, Book viii. 1. 445. 

69 Waxen portrait.] — Ver. 723. Waxen profiles seem to have been 
used by the Romans, as likenesses. They are evidently referred to in the 
Asinaria of Plautus, Act iv. sc. i. 1. 19, a passage which seems to have 
puzzled the Commentators. See the Epistle of Laodamia, 1. 152, and the 
Note. 



488 REMEDIA AMORIS ; [734—756. 

be kindled afresh, which just now was not existing. The Argive 
ships would fain have fled from Caphareus, 70 and from thee, old 
man, that didst avenge thy woes with the flames. The daughter 
of Nisus 71 past by, the cautious mariner rejoices. Do you avoid 
the spots which have proved too delightful for you. Let these 
be your Syrtes ; avoid these as your Acroceraunia ; 72 here does 
the ruthless Charybdis vomit forth and swallow down the waves. 
Some things there are which cannot be recommended at the 
bidding of any one ; still, the same, if happening by chance, 
are often wont to be of service. 

Had Phaedra lost her wealth, thou wouldst, Neptune, have 
spared thy descendant ; 73 nor would the bull, sent by his ances- 
tor, have startled the steeds. Had you made the Gnossian 74 
damsel poor, she would have loved with prudence. Volup- 
tuous passion is nourished by opulence. Why was there no 
one to court Hecale, 75 no one to court Irus ? 76 It was because 
the one was in want, the other a pauper. Poverty has 
nothing by which to pamper its passion ; still, this is not of 
so much consequence, that you should desire to be poor. 

But let it be of so much consequence to you, as not to be in- 
dulging yourself with the Theatres, until Love has entirely de- 
parted from your liberated breast. The harps, and the pipes, 
and the lyres, soften the feelings ; the voices, too, and the 
arms, moved to their proper time. There, everlastingly, the 
parts of supposed lovers are being acted 77 in the dance ; by his 
skill, the actor teaches you what to avoid, and what is service- 

70 Caphareus.]— Ver. 735. See the Tristia, Booki. El. i. 1. 83, and the 
Note. 

71 Of Nisus. 1 —Ver, 737. He falls into his usual error of confounding 
the daughter of Nisus with the daughter of Phorcys. 

72 Acroceraunia.'] — Ver. 739. These were tremendous rocks on the 
coast of Epirus. 

73 Thy descendant.] — Ver. 743. He means that the lust of Phaedra 
was engendered by ease and luxury. See the Metamorphoses, Book xv. 
1. 498. Neptune was the great grandfather of Hippolytus. 

74 Gnossian.] — Ver. 745. He refers to the love of Pasiphae for the 
bull. 

75 Hecale.] — Ver. 747. Hecale was a poor old woman, who entertained 
Theseus with great hospitality. 

76 Irus.]— Ver. 747. See the Tristia, Book iii. El.vii. 1. 42, and the 
Note. 

77 Being acted.]— Vex. 755. See the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 519, and the 
Note. 



756—784.] OR, THE REMEDY OE LOVE. 489 

able, Unwillingly must I say it : meddle not with the amorous 
Poets ; unnaturally do I myself withhold my own produc- 
tions. Avoid Callimachus ; no enemy is he to Love ; and 
together with Callimachus, thou, too, bard of Cos, 78 art in- 
jurious. Beyond a doubt, Sappho has rendered me more 
lenient to my mistress ; and the Teian Muse has imparted 
manners far from austere. Who can read in safety the lines of 
Tibullus, or thine, thou, whose sole subject Cynthia was? Who, 
after reading Gallus, could retire with obdurate feelings? 
Even my own lines have tones indescribably sweet. 

Unless Apollo, the inspirer of my work, is deceiving his 
bard, a rival is the especial cause of our torments. But do 
you refrain from conjuring up to yourself any rival ; and be- 
lieve that she lies alone upon her couch. Orestes loved Her- 
mione 79 more intensely for that very reason ; because she had 
begun to belong to another man. Why, Menelaus, dost thou 
grieve ? Without thy wife thou didst go to Crete ; and thou 
couldst, at thy ease, be absent from thy spouse. Soon as Paris 
has carried her off, then at last thou couldst not do without 
thy wife ; through the passion of another was thine own in- 
creased. This, too, did Achilles lament, in the case of the 
daughter of Brises, when taken away from him, that she was 
administering to the pleasures of the couch of the son of Plis- 
thenes. 80 And not without reason, 81 believe me, did he lament. 
The son of Atreus did that, which if he had not done, he 
would have been disgracefully torpid. At least, I should 
have done so, and I am not any wiser than he. That was the 
especial reward for the ill-will he got. For, inasmuch as he 
swore by his sceptre, that the daughter of Brises had never 
been touched by him; 'tis clear that he did not think 82 his 
sceptre was the Gods. 

78 Of Cos.]— Ver. 760. See the Art of Love, Book iii. 1. 329, and the 
Note. 

79 Hermione.] — Ver. 772. See the Epistle to Orestes. 

80 Of Plisthenes.~] — Ver. 778. Agamemnon was said, by some, to have 
been the son of Plisthenes, and adopted by his uncle Atreus. 

81 Without reason] — Ver. 779. Agamemnon declares the contrary of 
this in the Iliad ; Brisei's, in her Epistle to Achilles, does the same. 

82 He did not think.'] — Ver. 784. Ovid has no reason or ground for 
this wretched quibble, but his own imagination. This sceptre of Agamem- 
non was made by Vulcan, who gave it to Jupiter, he to Mercury, and Mer- 
cury to Pelops, who left it to Atreus ; by him it was left to Thyestes, who, 
according to Homer, gave it to Agamemnon. 



430 EEMEDIA AMOEIS. 

May the Deities grant that you may be able to pass the thres- 
hold of the mistress that you have forsaken ; and that your 
feet may aid your determination. And you will be able ; do you 
only wish to adhere to your purpose. Now it is necessary to go 
with boldness, now to put spur to the swift steed. Believe 
that in that cave are the Lotophagi, 83 in that the Syrens ; 
add sail to your oars. The man, too, who being your rival, 
you formerly took it amiss ; I would have you cease to hold 
him in the place of an enemy. But, at least, though the 
hatred should still exist, salute him. When now you shall 
be able to embrace him, you will be cured. 

That I may perform all the duties of a physician, behold ! 
I will tell you what food to avoid, or what to adopt. The 
Daunian 8 * onions, or those sent you from the Libyan shores, or 
whether those that come from Megara, 65 will all prove injurious. 
And 'tis no less proper to avoid the lustful rocket, and what- 
ever else provokes our bodies to lust. To more advantage 
may you use rue that sharpens the sight, 86 and whatever guards 
our bodies against lust. Do you enquire what I would advise 
you about the gifts of Bacchus ? You will be satisfied thereon 
by my precepts sooner than you expect. Wine incites the 
feelings to lust, unless you take it in great quantities, and, 
drenched with much liquor, your senses become stupefied. 
By wind is fire kindled, by wind is it extinguished. A 
gentle breeze nourishes flame, a stronger one puts it out. 
Either let there be no drunkenness, or to so great an extent as 
to remove your anxieties ; if there is any medium between the 
two, it is injurious. 

This work have I completed ; present the garlands to my 
wearied bark. I have reached the harbour, whither my course 
was directed. Both females and males, healed by my lays, to 
the Poet ere long will you be fulfilling your duteous vows. 

83 Lotophagi.]— Yer. 789. See the Tristia, Book iv. El. i. 1. 31, and 
the Note. 

84 Daunian.] — Ver. 797. Daunia was a name of Apulia, in Italy. See 
the Metamorphoses, Book xiv. 1. 512, and the Note. 

85 Megara.]— Ver. 798. See the Art of Love, Book ii. 1. 422. 

86 Sharpens the sight.]— Yer. 801. Pliny says that painters and sculp- 
tors were in the habit of using rue, for the purpose of strengthening the 
sight. 



DE MEDICAMINE FACIEI; 

OK, 

ON THE CARE OF THE COMPLEXION 
A FRAGMENT. 

(SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN COMPOSED BY OVID IN HIS YOUTH.) 



Learnt, ye fair, what methods improve the complexion, and 
by what means your beauty may be preserved. 'Tis culti- 
vation bids the sterile earth to pay the gifts of Ceres : the 
thorny brambles perish. "lis cultivation, too, that improves 
the sour juice in the apple, and the tree, by grafting, produces 
fruit not natural to it. Cultivated lands give pleasure ; lofty 
roofs are gilded with gold ; x the black soil lies hid beneath the 
marble placed above it. The same fleeces 2 are dyed often in 
the Tyrian cauldrons of brass ; India affords for our luxury 
its ivory in fragments. 3 Perhaps, when Tatius was king, the 
Sabine dames of old would have preferred dressing the fields 4 
of their forefathers to dressing themselves ; in the days when 
the ruddy matron, seated on her lofty stool, used to spin her 
rough task with fingers industriously plying. 

She herself, too, used to shut up the lambs which her 
daughter had fed ; she herself used to place the twigs and 
the split billets upon the hearth. But your mothers have pro- 
duced delicate girls ; you wish your bodies to be clothed 
with garments embroidered with gold. You desire to vary 
the arrangement of your perfumed locks ; you wish to have 
your hands adorned with gems. You place upon your necks 

* With gold.}— Ver. 7. See the Fasti, Book i. 1. 77. 

2 Same fleeces.} — Ver 9. He alludes to the ' dibapha,' or twice-dyed 
garments. See the Fasti, Book ii. 1. 107, and the Note. 

3 Its ivory in fragments.} — Ver. 10. He alludes to ivory cut into slips, 
called ' bractea, ' for veneering. It was used for inlaying furniture and 
decorating ceilings. 

4 Dressing the fields.} — Ver. 12. Literally, ' that the fields of their 
ancestors should rather be dressed than themselves.' He plays upon the 
double meaning of the word ' colo,' which means ' to cultivate land,' or 
' adorn ' the person, according to the context. 



492 DE MEDICAMENE FACIEI ; 

stones procured in the East ; and so great, that 'tis a burden 
for your ears to support a pair. 

And yet it is not unbecoming, if you have a care to please, 
since our age produces men of taste. After the example of 
the wives, are your husbands to be decked ; and hardly has the 
bride any thing to add to her own toilet. 

Let each fair one henceforth attire herself; and how con- 
quests may be hunted for, it matters not ; neatness is deserving 
of no reproach. They live retired in the country, and still 
they adjust their locks; even if the lofty Athos 5 concealed them, 
the lofty Athos would find them well dressed. Small though 
it be, there is a delight in amusing one's self; to maidens their 
beauty is a care and a gratification. The bird of Juno opens 
out her admired feathers 6 for the view of man ; and the bird, 
though dumb, is proud of her beauty. For such reasons will 
love influence us more readily, than by means of the potent 
herbs, which the hand of the enchanter cuts with his dreadful 
skill. 

Do not you put trust in herbs, nor in mixed potions ; and 
do not try the injurious venom of the lusting mare. 7 No 
snakes are cut asunder in the middle by the Marsian 8 spells ; 
no waters flow upwards to their sources, And, though any 
one should shake the brass of Temesa, 9 never will the Moon 
be hurled from her car. Ye fair, let the care of your manners 
be your first object ; when the disposition attracts, the looks 
are pleasing. The love of the character is lasting ; time 
will lay waste your beauty, and the features that pleased will 
be furrowed with wrinkles. The time will be, when you will 
be sorry to look at your mirror, and grief will come, a second 
cause for wrinkles. Virtue supplies its own resources, and 
lasts for time prolonged ; and it bears its years well ; on this 
love with certainty depends. 

Come, and learn now, in what manner, when sleep has re- 
lieved your tender limbs, your fair features may look beauteous. 
Strip of its chaff and its coverings the barley which the 
Libyan husbandmen have sent in the ships. Let an equal 

5 Lofty Athos.'] — Ver. 30. He means that it is natural for females in 
all countries to wish to appear to advantage. 

6 Admired feathers.] — Ver. 34. See the Art of Love, Book i. 1. 627. 

7 Lusting mare.'] — Ver. 38. See the Amores, Book i. El. viii. 1. 8. 

8 Marsian.]— Ver. 39. See the Fasti, Book vi. 1. 142, and the Note. 

9 Temesa.]— Ver. 41. See the Fasti, Book iii. 1. 441 ; and the Me- 
tamorphoses, Book iv. 1. 333, and the Notes. 



On, ON THE CARE OF THE COMPLEXION. 493 

quantity of vetches be made moist with ten eggs ; but let the 
peeled barley amount to two pounds. When this has been 
dried in the airy breezes, bid the slowly-moving ass bruise 
them with the rough mill-stone. Pound together also the 
first horns that fall from off the long-lived stag ; of this make 
there to be the sixth part of a full pound. And when now 
they have been reduced to a fine powder, 10 then sift them 
all in the hollow sieve. Add twice six bulbs of narcissus with- 
out the skin, which a strong right-hand must bruise in a clean 
mortar of marble ; let it receive also two ounces 11 of gum toge- 
ther with Etrurian spelt ; 12 to this let nine times as much more 
honey be contributed by you. Whoever shall rub her face with 
such a mixture, she will shine more brightly than her mirror. 
And do not delay to parch the pale lupins, and at the same 
time dry the beans, that swell out the body. Let each of them 
have six pounds, in equal proportions ; and give them both 
to be ground fine by the swarthy mill-stones. And let not 
white-lead be wanting to you, nor the froth of ruddy nitre, 13 
the sword-lily, 14 too, that comes from the lilyrian soil. Give 
these to be pounded together by the vigorous arms of youths ; 
but, when bruised, an ounce will be the proper weight. A 
tincture added from the chirping nest of birds will dispel 
freckles from the complexion ; this they call Halcyonea. 15 

10 Have been, reduced to a fine powder. ,] — Ver. 61. Pliny applies the 
word ' farina ' to powdered stags' horns. The ■ as,' or ' libra ' of the 
Romans, which answers pretty nearly to our word ' pound,' was in reality 
about three-quarters of our pound avoirdupoise. 

11 Also two ounces.'} — Ver. 65. The • sextans,' or sixth part of a 
pound, consisted of two ' uncise,' or ' ounces,' of which twelve went to the 
' as,' or ' libra.' They were somewhat less in weight than our ounce avoir- 
dupoise. 

12 Etrurian spelt.] — Ver. 65. This was called* zea,' and, according to 
Pliny, was much used for making fermenty. 

la The froth of ruddy nitre.] — Ver. 73. By this he means what was 
called ' aphronitrum,' or ' salt-petre.' 

14 The sword-lily.] — Ver. 74. Pliny informs us that the roots of the 
Iris, or sword-lily, have a most delightful smell, and that its root was 
especially used for making ointments. He says that its flowers were of the 
tints of the rainbow, and that the best came from Illyria. 

15 They call Halcyonea.] — Ver. 78. He alludes to a substance found in 
the sea, which Pliny takes to be the nest of the halcyon, or kingfisher. 
He says that these are like a ball elongated, and in substance like a sponge ; 
that they cannot be cut by a knife, but may be broken by a smart blow, 
and that they were used for removing leprosy and freckles from the skin. 



494 DE MEDICAMINE FACIEI. 

If you enquire with what weight of it I am satisfied ; that 
which an ounce forms when divided into two parts. 16 That 
it may blend, and may be easily rubbed upon the body, add 
Attic honey from the yellow combs. 

Although frankincense may appease the Gods and the 
angry Divinities ; still it must not all be given to the flaming 
altars. When you have mingled frankincense with nitre that 
removes warts; take care and let there be four ounces 17 of 
each by fair weight. Add some gum taken from the bark, less 
by a fourth part, and a little square piece 18 of unctuous myrrh. 
When you have pounded these together, sift them through a fine 
sieve ; the powder must be worked up with honey poured upon 
it. It has, too, proved of use to add fennel to the sweet- 
smelling myrrh ; let the fennel weigh five scruples, 19 nine the 
myrrh. Of dried roses, too, as much as one hand can hold, 
and male frankincense 20 together with sal-ammoniac. 21 Upon 
this, pour the thick pulp that barley produces ; and let the 
frankincense, together with the sal-ammoniac, equal the roses 
in weight. Although for but a little time you may have 
anointed your delicate features with this mixture; a full 
colour will pervade all your face. 

I have seen a fair one pound up poppies steeped in cold 
water, and rub them on her delicate cheeks. * 
[The rest is lost.~\ 

16 When divided into two parts.] — Ver. 80. The suggestion of Heinsius, 
who would put ' secta' for ' sexta,' is probably correct, and has been adopted; 
for 'uncia sexta,' 'the sixth ounce,' really admits of no meaning, though 
it is supposed, by some, to mean half a pound. 

17 Four ounces.'] — Ver. 86. ' Triens ' was the third part of an ' as,' or 
' libra.' 

18 A little square piece.] — Ver. 88. This line is probably corrupt. 
' Cubus' perhaps means no definite measure, but a little square piece like 
a die. 

19 Five scruples.] — Ver. 92. The ' scripulum,' or ' scrupulus,' was the 
smallest weight known to the Romans. It was the 288th part of a pound, 
From myrrh being mentioned here again, it has been suggested that 
' myrtis,' ' myrtle,' is the correct reading in the 88th line. 

20 Male frankincense.] — Ver. 94. Pliny says that the drops or globules, 
which were particularly round, were so called. 

21 Sal- Ammoniac] — Ver. 94. This substance was so called, from its 
being found near the Temple of Jupiter Amnion in Libya. It was com- 
monly supposed to exude from the ground ; but we learn from the ancient 
historians that it was formed from the urine of the numerous camels that 
resorted thither with pilgrims to the temple. 



NUX; 

OR, THE WALNUT-TREE.' 



The Poet introduces a Walnut-tree, which stands near the high road, as 
complaining of being mercilessly pelted by the passers-by, and as speak- 
ing in its own defence. 

I, a walxtjt-teee, adjoining to the road, although my life is 
blameless, am pelted with stones by the people as they pass. 
Such a penalty as this is wont to overtake 2 those discovered 
in the perpetration of crime, when the public indignation 
brooks slow delay. Nothing wrong have I done, unless it be 
termed doing wrong, to give my yearly crop to my cultivator. 
Bat once, when times were better, there was a contest 
among the trees about their fruitfulness. When the grateful 
owners were wont to adorn with garlands the Gods of the 
husbandmen, as the fruits grew apace. Full oft, Bacchus, 
hast thou admired thy own grapes, and often has Minerva 
admired her own olives. The apples, too, would have in- 
jured their mother, had not a long prop, in the shape of a 
fork, placed beneath the bough, given its aid to the labouring 
branch. Moreover, woman was fruitful after my example, 
and there was no female 3 in those days that was not a mother. 
But after a more abundant honour was paid to plane-trees, 4 

1 The Walnut-Tree. Some are of opinion that this Poem was not com- 
posed by Ovid; it is, however, more generally supposed to bear evident in- 
ternal marks of being his composition, and to have been the work of his 
youthful years. Erasmus thinks that it is intended by the Poet as a satire 
against the luxury and avarice of his age. It is supposed to have been 
suggested by an Epigram in the Greek Anthology, by some attributed 
to Plato. 

2 To overtake.'] — Ver. 3. This is an exactly similar proceeding to what 
we now call Lynch law 

3 And t~hei*e was no female.'] — Ver. 16. He distantly hints at the 
practice, winch extensively prevailed in his time among the Romans, of 
procuring abortion. See the Amores, Book ii. El. 14. 

4 Paid to plane-trees.] — Ver. 17. He refers to the value which was 
set on the plane-tree for its pleasant shade ; which Virgil mentions as 
being much sought by revellers. 



496 NTTX ; OB, THE WA.LNUT-TKEE. 

that afford their barren shade, than to any other tree beside, 
we fruit-bearing trees as well, (if only I, the walnut-tree, am 
reckoned among them) began to wanton in spreading foliage. 
Now, fruit is not produced by us in successive years ; and the 
grape comes home in an injured state, the olive, injured, as 
well. Now-a-days, she that desires to appear beauteous, 
injures her womb ; and few are they in this age, that desire to 
be parents. Undoubtedly, I should have been more safe, 5 if 
I had never been productive. Worthy of Clytemnestra were 
that complaint. Did the vine know this, she would check her 
growing grapes ; and the tree of Pallas, did she know this, 
would be destitute. Were this to come to the knowledge of the 
apple and the pear-tree, the fruit of both of them would 
forsake their branches. Did the cherry-tree hear this, who 
marks her fruits with varying colours, she would be a useless 
trunk. 

For my part, I envy them not ; and yet is any tree beaten, 
which, barren as it is, is conspicuous for its foliage alone ? 
Review in their order all the trees that are uninjured, who, 
only, by bearing no fruit, afford no grounds why they should 
be struck with blows. Whereas, cruel wounds on my mutilated 
branches hurt me ; and, the bark stripped off, my bare wood 
is exposed. No dislike does this, but a gratified hope of plunder. 
Let other trees bear fruit ; they will have to make the like 
complaint. So is he generally accused, over whom a victory 
can be profitable ; the deeds of the poor man are without a 
censurer. So does the traveller 6 fear an ambush, who knows 
that he is carrying what may cause him alarm ; the needy man 
goes on his way in safety. So am I the only one attacked, 
because there is reason for attacking me alone ; all the rest 
of the multitude flourish with boughs untouched. 

For although, sometimes, the other shrubs as well have 
many a broken fragment that lies close to me with its injured 
twigs ; it is not their own deeds that cause them the injury ; 
their propinquity does them harm. They receive the stones 
that rebound from my blows. And this assertion would not 
be believed, if those, which are further off, did not retain, 

5 More safe."] — Ver. 25. He alludes to the death of Clytemnestra. by 
the hand of her son Orestes. 

6 The traveller.) — Ver. 43\ Juvenal has a similar passage, Satire x. 
1. 22. 'Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator;' ' The traveller that has 
nothing to lose, will sing in presence of the robber.' 



NUX; OE, THE WALNTJT-TEEE. 497 

untouched, their native beauty. Therefore, if they had sense, 
and if speech obeyed their feelings, each of my neighbours 
would curse my shadow. 

What a sad thing is it for hatred to be added to my mis- 
fortunes, and for me to be accused on account of my too near 
propinquity ! But, I presume, forsooth, that great is the atten- 
tion to me from the laborious husbandman. You can find no one 
to give me anything, save the ground. Spontaneously, I 
sprang up easily on waste ground, and a part of the spot, 
where I am standing, is almost the public way. 7 That I may 
not injure the crops, inasmuch as I am said to injure the crops, 
the most distant spot of ground receives me at the very extre- 
mity. 

No Saturnian 8 knife prunes away my exuberant foliage ; 
no digger turns up the hardened earth 9 for me. Though I 
should struggle, on the point of perishing, with the heat of 
the sun and with parching thirst, no streamlet of refreshing 
water will be granted me. But when the young nut makes its 
chinks, the marks of maturity, in the cleft shell, the relentless 
pole comes to those spots. 10 The pole gives cruel wounds to my 
full branches, that I may not be able to complain of the blows 
of stones only. My fruit falls, not forbidden at the dessert, 
aud you stow up, thrifty wife of the husbandman, my nuts 
when gathered ! 

These, the boy, either standing upright, 11 splits with a sure 
stroke ; or, extended along the ground, he strikes them once 
or twice with his fingers. All the game is played with four nuts, 

" Almost the public way.~\ — Ver. 60. Only just on the other side of the 
hedge. 

8 Saturnian.'] —Ver. 63. Macrobius says that Saturn was the guardian 
Deity of corn and the vine. His pruning knife was said to have fallen in 
Sicily. 

9 Hardened earth.'] — Ver. 64. Erasmus says that this tree does not, 
like some others, require the earth to be loosened about its roots. 

10 To those spots.] — Ver. 68. On the principle of the old proverb : — 

' A woman, a spaniel, a walnut-tree, 

The more they are beaten, the better they be.' 

11 Either standing upright.] — Ver. 73. There has been much written 
by the Commentators on the difficulties of this and the next line, but the 
meaning seems pretty plain. The boys, before using the walnuts for their 
games, which are afterwards mentioned, are desirous to shell them. Some 
take off their green shell, by standing upright and dropping them full Ccerto 
ictu) upon the ground ; while others, lying around the ground, (prom), 
shell them by striking them adroitly once or twice with their fingers. 

K K 



498 NUX; OE, THE WALNUT-TREE. 

and no more ; while one is placed on the other three put be- 
neath it. Another one bids me roll along the descent of a 
smooth surface ; and hopes that each one of the many 12 may 
touch his own. There is he, besides, who is to say whether the 
number is odd or even ; that the guesser may win the spoil so 
hit upon. A figure ; too, is made with chalk, such as the 
figure which the Constellation 13 in the heavens, and the fourth 
letter among the Greeks, have. When this figure has been 
divided into steps : the nut that stops 14 within the triangle, 
carries off thence as many nuts as the lines which it has 
touched. A hollow vessel, too, is often placed, a distance 
intervening ; in which the nut is to fall, 15 when thrown with 
a steady hand. 

Happy the tree which is produced in a field remote ; and 
which is enabled to render tribute to but one master ! It hears 

12 Each one of the many. — Ver. 78. ' Quaelibet' seems to be a prefer- 
able reading to ' quamlibet.' He rolls his walnut down the board, and 
hopes that it will touch as many as possible of those stationed in a line 
below, because those so touched will be forfeited to him. 

13 Constellation.'] — Ver. 82. That near Aries, called 'Deltoton' by the 
Greeks. 

14 The nut that stops.] — Ver. 83. ' Quse ' seems to be the proper reading, 
as referring to the nut thrown, and not to the person who throws. The 
suggestions of Sentlebius and Burmann seem correct ; and the following 
appears to be the game here described. Atriangle is formed; in that, horizon- 
tal lines (relatively to the thrower) are drawn. These Ovid calls ' virgae ;' 
and coming one above the other, they mark the triangle out into 'gradus,' or 
'steps.' All the players having joined in making a pool or bank of nuts, the 
lines are marked as of a certain value. That which is the widest being 
nearest to the base and to the thrower, reckons as one ; the next two, 
the next three, and the last four. The thrower then bowls his nut : if it 
goes over the first line, he gains one nut from the pool ; if over the first 
and second, three ; if over the first three, six ; if over all the lines, and 
then rests within the apex of the triangle, he gains ten in all. The difficulty 
then is to make the nut stop short of the apex, the space between it and 
the fourth line being extremely small ; the rule of the game being, that if 
it goes outside of it, it gains nothing. Thus, those who would be 
ambitious of making the most of a throw by touching all the lines, would 
run the greatest risk of gaining nothing by throwing too far ; and the 
skill of the game would consist in throwing in a straight line towards the 
very apex of the triangle, and accurately measuring the force necessary to 
bowl within it, but beyond the fourth line. The touching of the lines 
f tangere virgas,' seems pretty clearly to denote the object of the game, 
combined with the ' consistere intus,' the resting within. 

15 The nut is to fall.] — Ver. 86. If he throws his nut into the vessel, he 
wins one from the other player ; if he misses, he loses his own. 



NUX; OR, THE WALNUT-TREE. 499 

not the hum of men, nor yet the noise of wheels: it is 
not covered with dust from the neighbouring road. It is 
allowed to present to its own cultivator whatever gifts it has 
produced, and to reckon up a plenteous crop. But I am never 
permitted to bring my fruit to maturity ; and my riches are 
shaken off before their time. While my shell is still soft with 
the tender milky pulp that is within, and my misfortunes 
are to prove a benefit to no one; still, even then, you may 
find those who pelt me, and seek a worthless spoil by their 
premature blows. 

If an account were taken of what is stolen, and were taken 
of what is left ; traveller, you receive a larger share than that 
of my owner. Many a time, when a person sees my summit 
bared of leaves, he supposes that it is the sad work of the 
raging Boreas. This one thinks I am stripped by the heat, 
that one by the cold ; there are some, too, that suppose it 
to be the fault of the hail. But neither hail, so hated by the 
hardy husbandman, nor yet wind, or sun, or frost has proved 
my injury. My fruit is my fault ; it injures me to bear, it 
injures me to be fruitful. Plunder, which has been so to 
many, is the cause of my misfortune as well. 

Spoil, Polydorus, was the cause of thy woes ; 16 'twas lucre 
that sent the Aonian husband " of the wicked wife to war. The 
orchards 18 of the Hesperian king would have been untouched ; 
but one tree was bearing boundless wealth. Yet the bram- 
ble and the thorn are produced only to injure ; and the rest of 
the prickly shrubs are safe in their own defence. Me, be- 
cause I am neither injurious, nor am defended by crooked 
thorns, annoying stones pelt, sent by the greedy hand. 
What if, when the earth is cracking with the Icarian Dog- 
star, 19 I were not to afford my shade so convenient to those 
who fly from the sunshine ? What if I were not a place of 
refuge for those who avoid the showers, when the rain comes 
with its unexpected floods ? Although I do all this, although 
I carefully perform my duty to all ; still, with all my duty, I 
am pelted with stones. 

16 Of thy woes. .] — Ver. 109. His murder by Polymnestor. See the 
Metamorphoses, Book xiii. 

17 Aonian husband.] — Ver. 110. See the Metamorphoses, Book viii 
1. 317. 

18 The orchards.]— Ver. 111. The golden apples of the Hesperides. 
lj Dogstar.]— Ver. 118. See the Fasti, Book iv. 1. 939. 

Kl2 



500 NUX; OR, THE WALNUT-TREE. 

When I have submitted to this, the complaints of my mas- 
ter must be endured. I am considered the cause why the 
soil is so stony. 20 And while he is clearing the ground again, 
and is throwing back the stones that are collected, the roads 
ever have weapons at hand against me. 'Tis for this that the 
cold, so hated by others, is an advantage to me alone ; at 
that time, the winter keeps me safe. Then, indeed, I am 
bare ; but it is advantageous to be bare, and the enemy has not 
any spoil to seek from me. But soon as I expose their own 
products upon my branches, multitudes of stones, in a per- 
fect hailstorm, are pelting my young fruit. 

Perhaps some one here may say, " What encroaches on the 
public way, 'tis allowed to take ; this right the highway pos- 
sesses." If this is allowed, strip off the olives ; cut down the 
standing corn. Cut down, pilfering wayfarer, the vegetables 
that are at hand. Let the same license enter the gates of 
the City, too ; and let there be the same amount of privilege, 
Romulus, for thy walls. Let any one that chooses carry off 
the silver 21 from the projecting front of the shop, and let any 
one else that pleases turn to the jewellery. Let this person 
carry off the gold, that the foreign stones ; and let each take 
away whatever wealth he is able to lay hands on. But they 
are not taken away ; nor, so long as Caesar rules all things, 
will the robber be safe, a protector so great existing. But 
this Divinity does not confine peace within the walls ; over 
the whole world does he extend his protection. But of what 
use is this, if, in mid-day and openly, I am thus beaten, and 
if I am not allowed to be in safety ? For this reason you see 
no nests adhering to my branches, and no bird 22 perching in 
my retreats. But such stones as have lodged in the joinings 
of my branches, there abide, and remain, like the conqueror 
in the captured citadel. 

Other charges, however, can often be denied, and the night 

20 Why the soil is so stony."] — Ver. 124. It has to bear the blame be- 
cause the end of the field is covered with the stones thrown at it ; these 
being thrown into the road by the owner, are there in readiness to pelt 
the unfortunate tree again. 

21 Carry off the silver.] — Ver. 139. The ' tabernarii,' or ' bankers' 
and ! money-changers/ seem to have exposed their riches in their shop 
windows, probably much in the same manner that the dealers in bullion 
do in this country. At Rome, their shops were in the Forum. 

22 No bird.] — Ver. 150. Probably from the bitterness of the leaves, 
and the pungency of its smell. 



WUX) OR, THE WALNUT-TREE. 501 

has disavowed its own misdeeds. My injuries blacken the 
fingers with my dark juices, the outer shell staining the hands 
that are touched thereby. This is my blood ; the hand which 
is stained with this blood, is washed with water to no purpose. 
Oh ! how oft have I wished, when weariness of my lengthened 
existence has come upon me, becoming withered, to die ! How 
oft have I wished, either to be uprooted by the impetuous 
whirlwind, or to be struck by the furious flame of the hurled 
thunderbolt ! And would that sudden storms would tear away 
my fruit ; or else, that I might be enabled, myself, to shake 
off my produce. Thus, beaver 23 of Pontus, when by your- 
self the cause of your danger has been removed from yourself, 
you keep in safety what remains. What are my feelings 
then, when the traveller is taking up his weapons, and is first 
marking with his eyes the place for the blow ? I am not 
allowed to avoid the cruel wound, by moving my trunk, which 
my root and my tenacious fibres hold fast. 

I expose my body to the blows ; as often the accused does 
to the arrows, when the people forbids him 24 to remove the 
manacles ; or as when the white heifer beholds the heavy hatchet 
raised, or the knives 25 made bare for her throat. Full oft have 
you supposed that my leaves were shaken by the wind ; but 
fear was the cause of that shaking of mine. 

If I have deserved this, and if I appear guilty, place me in 
the flames, and burn my limbs upon the smoking hearths. If 
I have deserved this, and if I appear guilty, cut me down with 
the axe ; and but once 26 allow me, in my misery, to be dis- 
graced. If you have no reason either why I should be burnt, 
or why I should be cut down, have compassion on me : and 
so may you arrive at the end of your destined journey. 

23 Beaver.] — Ver. 166. When hunted, the beaver was said to bite off 
that portion of its body which was the object of the pursuit, and to leave 
it by way of compromise for its liberty. 

24 The people forbids him.'] — Ver. 172. Heinsius is at a loss to know 
to what particular circumstance, if any, he here alludes. 

25 The knives.]— Ver. 174. See the Fasti, Book i. 1. 327. 

26 And but once.'] — Ver. 180. Heinsius sees no sense in this passage, 
and thinks that it is spurious. The meaning, however, seems to be pretty 
clear : ' Let me be cut down and burnt like a malefactor, and thus be dis- 
graced and put an end to at once. This I should prefer, to being treated 
as I am now treated ; being disgraced from day to day by being pelted 
at. If, however, I do not deserve to be cut down or burnt, I do not 
deserve to be disgraced, but to receive more considerate treatment. In 
such case, I wish you passers-by a pleasant journey.' 



THE CONSOLATION TO LIVIA AUGUSTA, 



DEATH OF HER SON DRUSUS CLAUDIUS NERO. 



(Ascribed by some to Pedo Albinovanus, but more generally supposed to 
have been written by Ovid.) 



Thou, who so long didst seem blessed, so lately styled the 
mother of the Neros, now is the half of that title 2 lost to thee. 
Now, Livia, dost thou read the mournful lines addressed to 
Drusus ; but one hast thou now to say, " My mother," to thee. 

1 Drusus Claudius Nero.~\ He was the son of Tiberius Nero, by 
his wife, Livia Drusilla, and from whom she was subsequently divorced, and 
became the wife of Augustus. He was the brother of Tiberius, who after- 
wards was emperor. Having obtained victories over the Gauls and Germans, 
he. was elevated to the Prsetorship. In an expedition to the Rhine, with 
Tiberius, he acquired great glory, and was nominated Proconsul. He also 
received the title of Imperator, and the honours of a triumph were decreed 
to him. He died from the effects of a fall from his horse, in his thirtieth 
year. 

2 Half of that title.'] — Ver. 2. Being one of her two sons by Tiberius 
Nero. Seneca, in his " Consolation to Marcia," has the following passage: — 
1 Livia lost her son Drusus, already a great general, and one who promised 
to be a great prince. He died in the service of the state, and great were 
the regrets of the cities, the provinces, and the whole of Italy ; both the 
free-towns and the colonies flocked to pay their marks of sorrowful respect, 
and the funeral procession was attended as far as the City, very much 
resembling a triumph. His mother had not had the opportunity of giving 
to her son the last kiss, or of hearing his parting words. Having, for a 
great distance, followed the remains of her Drusus, so many piles blazing 
throughout Italy, as though she had lost him so many times over, so soon 
as she had laid him in the tomb, she put an end to her grief, and showed 
no further sorrow than was due to her respect for Caesar, or to her feelings 
as a mother. But she did not cease to pay all honours to the name of 
Drusus, and to have him represented (in statues) both in her own house 
and the public buildings, and showed pleasure in speaking of him and 
hearing his praises.' The Senate conferred the title of Germanicus on his 
descendants. Casar Germanicus, his son, was a youth of great promise, 
but he died in his early years at Antioch, under very suspicious circum- 
stances. See the Fasti, Book i. 1. 312. 



THE CONSOLATION TO LIVIA AUGUSTA. 503 

No longer does thy affection distract thee with the love of 
two; no longer, when the name of "son" is uttered, dost 
thou say, " Which of the two dost thou mean V 

And does any one dare to prescribe laws for thy lamenting 1 
And with his lips does any one restrain thy tears ? Alas ! 
how easy 'tis (since this is shared by all) to speak big words 
upon the grief of another! Thou hast been smitten, for- 
sooth, by a trifling flash of lightning, that thou mightst 
prove more potent under thy sorrows. 

A youth is dead, a respected model of virtue ; transcendant 
was he in arms, transcendant was he in the arts of peace. 3 
How lately did he rescue the Alps, filled with their coverts, 
from the foe, and, he the leader, 4 his brother, too, the leader, 
bore off the glories of the warfare. He subdued the Suevi, s 
a fierce race, the Sygambri, 6 too, unsubdued before, and he 
turned to flight the backs of the barbarians. He too, earned, 

Roman, for thee, triumphs before unknown, 7 and extended 
thy sway 8 to lands but recently discovered. 

And thou, his mother, unsuspecting of thy destiny, wast 
preparing to fulfil thy vows to Jove, and to fulfil thy vows 
to the Goddess in arms, and to load father Gradivus 9 with 

3 The arts of peace."] — Ver. 14. Literally. ' in the toga.' 

4 He, the leader.] — Ver. 16. Tiberius, as the elder brother, was really 
the ' dux ;' but the encomiast affects to halve the glory between them. 
Dio Cassius and Velleius Paterculus say that Drusus was appointed as 

1 helper,' ' adjutor,' of Tiberius. 

5 The Suevi.] — Ver. 17. The Suevi are supposed to have occupied the 
present country of Pomerania, on the banks of the Elbe. 

6 The Sygambri.] — Ver. 17. See the Amores, Book i. El. xiv. 1. 49, 
and the Note to the passage. Suetonius says that Augustus transplanted 
the Sygambri from Germany to Gaul. 

7 Triumphs before unknown.] — Ver. 19. A triumph over nations before 
unknown. 

8 Extended thy sway.] — Ver. 20. He nominally reduced a great part 
of Germany, under the Roman arms. He was succeeded by Quintilius 
Varus, who, with his three legions, was cut to pieces by the Germans, who 
took the field under their great leader Arminius. This defeat, which was 
considered more complete than that of Cannae, had a great effect on Au- 
gustus, who, according to Seutonius, mourned for several months, and 
leaving his hair unshorn and his beard unshaven, would shake his head 
and exclaim, ' Quinctili Vare, legiones redde,' ' Quintilius Varus, give me 
back my legions !' 

9 Father Gradivtis.] — Ver. 23. Mars was sometimes called ' Mars 
pater,' or ' father Mars.' 



504 THE CONSOLATION 

gifts; and to worship each Divinity that it is lawful and 
righteous to adore. And in thy maternal mind wast thou 
revolving his hallowed triumphs ; and perhaps even already 
was his chariot an object of thy care. Instead of hallowed 
triumphs, the funeral procession has to be led by thee ; and 
instead of the heights of Jove, 10 the tomb awaits thy Drusus. 
Thou didst fancy him now returned, and in thy mind thou 
didst entertain the transports prematurely enjoyed; and already 
before thine eyes was the hero " Soon will he come," didst 
thou say to thyself ; " soon will the multitude see me con- 
gratulating him ; now must I bear the presents for my Drusus. 
I will go forth to meet him, and happy shall I be called 
throughout all cities ; with these lips, too, shall I press his 
neck and his eyes. Like this will he be ; in this manner 
will he meet me ; in this manner will he return my kisses ; 
these things will he recount to me ; thus will I be the first, 
myself, to say." 

Delusive pleasures dost thou cherish; lay aside, most wretched 
lady, these vain hopes. Cease, in thy delight, to make 
mention of thy Drusus. That care of Caesar, 11 that second 
half of your anxieties, is dead. Unloose, Livia, thy sorrowing 
tresses. What now do thy virtues avail thee, and all thy 
life passed with propriety so strict, 12 and the being beloved 
by a personage so great 1 What, too, that thou art so inviolate 
in thy chastity, that it is the very least among thy praises ? 
liVhat that thou hast preserved thy principles uncorrupted 
against their own age, and that thou hast raised thine head far 
above all vices 1 What that thou hast injured no one, 13 and 
yet hast had the power to injure? What, too, that no one 
has dreaded thy strength ? That thy influence has not ex- 
tended to the Plain of Mars™* and to the Forum ; and that 

10 The heights of Jove.] — Ver. 28. Instead of the Capitol, which was 
sacred to Jupiter, and to which the victor proceeded in triumph. 

11 That care of Ccesar.] — Ver. 39. According to Suetonius, he had 
not only been adopted by Caesar, but was destined by him to be his suc- 
cessor. 

12 Passed with propriety so strict.'] — Ver. 43. This line is hopelessly 
corrupt. The meaning is clearly a compliment to Livia on her chastity : 
but a literal translation of it is quite out of the question. 

13 Hast injured no one.] — Ver. 47. So Velleius Paterculus says, with 
regard to Livia, ' No one was sensible of her power, except by reason of 
her assistance in the moment of peril, or of his elevation to some dignity.' 

13 * Plain of Mars.] — Ver. 49. See the Amores, Book iii. El. viii. 1. 57, 
and the Note to the passage. 



TO LIYIA AUGUSTA. 505 

thou hast forborne to use it against any family whatever. 
It is, in fact, through such principles as these, that the slights 
of Fortune show her tyranny ; and here, too, does she rest 
upon her unsteady wheel. 14 Here, too, is she felt ; that with 
no partiality she may destroy, she rages ; and everywhere does 
she assert her unjust prerogative for herself. 

If Livia, forsooth, had alone been exempt from sorrow, 
would the sway of Fortune have been diminished ? Suppose 
that Livia had not so conducted herself in every respect, 
that her blessings were not cause of envy? Add the house 
of Caesar ; that assembly, free from death, ought surely to be 
above the calamities of mortals. He, ever watchful, he, hal- 
lowed and seated on his lofty height, 15 were worthy in safety 
to behold the affairs of mortal men. Neither himself to be 
mourned by his kindred, nor yet to mourn any one of his 
kindred ; nor yet, himself to endure what we, the vulgar 
throng, endure. 

We have seen him lamenting on the offspring of his sister 16 
being snatched away ; that, as for Drusus, was a public mourn- 
ing. He has deposited Agrippa 17 in the same sepulchre, Mar- 
cellus, as thee ; and now has that place received his two 
sons-in-law. Agrippa there deposited, hardly had the gate of 
the tomb well closed, when, lo ! his sister paid the tribute of 
her death. 13 Lo! three already experienced, Drusus, the most 
recent loss, is the fourth to receive the tears of great Caesar. 

14 Upon her unsteady wheel.'] — Ver. 52. See the Tristia, Book v. El. viii. 
1. 7, and the Note to the passage. 

15 On his lofty height.] — Ver. 61. He probahly alludes to the residence 
of Augustus, in the Palatium, on the Capitoline Hill. Some, however, 
think that he alludes prospectively to the apotheosis of Augustus, and by 
the word ' arce,' means ' the heavens.' 

16 The offspring of his sister.] — Ver. 65. This was Marcellus, the son 
of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, and the first husband of his daughter 
Julia. He died in his eighteenth year, universally regretted by the public. 
It is to him that Virgil alludes in his celebrated line in the Sixth Book of 
the Mneid, 1. 883, ' Tu Marcellus eris,' ' Thou shalt be Marcellus.' 

17 Agrippa.] — Ver. 67. After the death of Marcellus, Augustus mar- 
ried his daughter Julia to Agrippa, who was previously married to 
Marcella, the sister of the deceased Marcellus, and from whom he was 
then divorced. 

18 The tribute of her death.] — Ver. 70. Almost immediately after the 
death of Agrippa, Octavia, the sister of Augustus, died at Rome, in her 
fiftv-fourth year. 



506 THE CONSOLATION 

Close now, ye Destinies, close the sepulchre, that has been 
open too long ; longer than is right does that abode still yawn 
wide. Drusus, thou art gone, and in vain are thy glories pro- 
claimed. 19 May these lamentations for thy death prove the 
last. That grief might fill whole ages even, and might have 
occupied the extent of universal mourning. 

In thee are many lost ; and thou, in whom there was such 
a multitude of good qualities, to whose lot each virtue fell, 
wast not one alone. And no one of mothers was there more 
fruitful than thy parent, who at two births produced so many 
virtues. Alas ! where is now that pair equal in their merits 
so numerous ? And where that affectionate tenderness, and that 
undoubted attachment ? We have seen Nero, 20 distracted at 
the death of his brother, weeping, with his locks hanging 
over his pallid features, unlike, too, to his former self, as his 
countenance bespoke its sorrow. Ah me! what grief was 
there in his every feature ! 

But thou didst look upon thy brother in his last moments, 
when about to die ; he, too, beheld thy tears. And dying, he 
felt thy breast pressed to his own, and on thy features he held 
his eyesjirmly fixed; his eyes, as at that very instant, they 
swam in gloomy death, his eyes that instant about to submit 
to 21 the fraternal hand. But his sorrowing mother neither gave 
him the parting kiss, nor with her throbbing bosom did she 
cherish bis cold limbs. His fleeting breath she did not re- 
ceive 22 in her opened lips ; nor did she lay 23 her tresses, cut 
off, along thy limbs. Thou wast torn, too, from her, far away, 
while ruthless warfare employed thee, more useful, Drusus, 
to thy country than to thine own self. 

In tears she dissolves ; as when, stricken by the Zephyrs 
and the rays of the sun, the light snow is melted in the balmy 

19 Are thy glories proclaimed.'] — Ver. 75. Probably 'vocantur' is the 
correct reading here for ' levantur.' 

20 We have seen Nero.'] — Ver. 85. The allusion is to Tiberius Nero, 
afterwards Emperor. 

21 About to submit to.] — Ver. 94. Being the nearest relative present, it 
would be the duty of Tiberius to close the eyes of his brother. 

22 She did not receive.] — Ver. 97. He says Livia was not present to 
catch the dying breath of her son, which it was the custom for the nearest 
relative to do. 

23 Nor did she lay.] — Ver. 98. See the Metamorphoses, Book iii. 1. 506, 
and the Note to the passage. 



TO LIYIA AUGUSTA. 507 

spring. Thee does she lament, and her sad misfortunes, and 
her purposeless vows, 24 and she rebukes her years as having 
lived too long. In such wise, soothed at length, does the 
Dauiian bird, 25 in the shady woods, lament the Thracian 
Itys : similar complaints of the halcyons resound with shrill 
voice over the stormy ocean in appeals to the deaf waves. 
Thus, did you, ye birds, so suddenly formed, beating your 
breasts with your new-made wings, warble in concert around 
the descendant of (Eneus. 26 Thus lamented Clymene ; 27 thus 
too did the daughter of Clymene weep, when, struck by the 
lightnings, the youth fell from his father's car on high. Some- 
times she dries up her tears, and summons her fortitude, and 
withholds them ; and her eyes, with stronger endurance, keep 
them held within. They burst forth, and again do they over- 
flow her lap and her bosom, gushing forth from her over- 
flowing and swollen cheeks. Cessation from weeping in- 
creases their strength ; and more plenteously does the tide 
burst forth, if it has been held back by a short respite. At 
length, when, through her tears, she is enabled, thus, as she 
weeps, does she begin, while sobs interrupt her accents in the 
midst : 

"My son, my short-lived offspring, one half of the two 
that I produced ; thou glory of thy stricken parent, where art 
thou ? Alas ! but lately so mighty, where art thou ? To 
the tomb and to the pile art thou being carried out. Are these 
the gifts to be prepared for thy return ? Is it thus that thou 
didst deserve to meet the eyes of thy mother 1 Is it thus 
that I was deserving to see thee on thy return ? If it is allowed 
the wife of Caesar to say such a thing ; I am now in doubt 
whether I should believe that the great Divinities exist. 

V For what wrong have I done ? What Divinities, and what 
Gods have I not been enabled to deserve well of by my pious 

24 Her purposeless vows.~\ — Ver. 103. Following the suggestion of 
Ileinsius, we read 'vota' at the end of this line, instead of 'tales.' 
The passage is evidently corrupt. 

25 The Dauiian bird.]— Ver. 106. See the Fifteenth Epistle in this 
volume, 1. 154, and the Note. 

26 Descendant of (Eneus."} — Ver. 110. He alludes to the transformation 
of the companions of Diomedes, the grandson of (Eneus, into birds. See 
the Fourteenth Book of the Metamorphoses, 1. 494, and the Note. 

27 Thus lamented Clymene.] — Ver. 111. She was the mother of Phaeton. 
He alludes to the grief of herself and her daughters on the death of her 
son. See the Second Book of the Metamorphoses. 



508 THE CONSOLATION 

devotions ? Is this the reward of piety 1 I embrace these 
lifeless limbs ; and the name and the pile is devouring this 
same bosom. And do I, accursed as I am, endure to behold 
thee laid out ? And will my hands, my son, be able to anoint 
thee ? 28 Now, to my misery, for the last time do I clasp thee 
and behold thee ? And do I compose thy hands ? 29 And am 
I to move my lips upon thy lips ? Now, for the first time, both 
Consul and Victor, art thou beheld by thy parent ! Is it thus 
to me, thus to wretched me, that thou dost bring home titles 
so great ? Thy first fasces that I beheld, I saw in thy funeral 
procession • I beheld them, too, reversed, 30 and as tokens of 
woe. 

" Who could have believed it ? That day has come, a most 
abundant source of sorrow to a mother, on which she beheld 
her son with supreme honors. And am I not now truly un- 
happy? Now Drusus, known by the name 31 of his maternal 
grandsire, one half of my Neros, has been torn away from me. 
And is he now mine own no longer, and does he no longer 
make me a parent ? And have I once been the mother of 
Drusus, and did he once exist ? 

"Nor yet, when it shall be reported to me that the victorious 
Nero is come, shall I any longer be enabled to say, ' Is it the 
elder one, or the other that is come V To the last am I re- 
duced ; from one only do I hold the privilege of a mother ; 
from one arises that title, which still, in my bereavement, I am 
being denied. Ah wretched me ! I shudder, and a chill runs 
through my bones. Nothing now, for certain, can I call 
my own. Lo ! he once was mine ; he bids me fear for his 
brother ; everything now do I dread ; before, I was more bold. 

28 Be able to anoint thee.~\ — Ver. 136. It was ordinarily the duty of 
the ' pollinctores,' who were slaves of the undertaker, or ' libitinarius,' to 
anoint and perfume the body after death. Nisard's translation thus ren- 
ders the present passage, ' Pourraije l'embaumer de mes propres mains ?' 
' Shall I be able to embalm him with my own hands ?' ! ! 

29 Do I compose thy hands ?~] — Ver. 138. ' Effingere manus ' is pro- 
bably ' to lay the hands out by the side.' 

30 Beheld them, too, reversed.] — Ver. 142. The arms of the soldiers, and 
the ' fasces ' and other insignia, were borne in an inverted position at the 
funeral of a general. The ' fasces ' were also broken on the same occasion. 

31 Known by the name.'] — Ver. 146. From Suetonius, we learn that 
the father of Livia was of the family of the Drusi, but that he was adopted 
into the family of the Livii. Livia was also called ' Drusilla.' 



TO LIYTA AUGUSTA. 509 

Thee at least 32 surviving, Nero, may I die ; mayst thou close 
my eyes, and with pious lips mayst thou receive this breath. 
And would that one, the hand of Drusus, and the other, that of 
his brother, should have composed and closed these eyes ! 
What may still be done, at least, Drusus, in this one tomb 33 
will we be laid ; and, entombed alone, thou shalt not go to 
thy forefathers of old. I shall be mingled with thee, ashes 
with ashes, 34 and bones with bones. May the Destiny, with 
spindle swiftly whirling, bring that day round !" 

This and more does she say. Tears follow her words, 
and trickle in vain down her lips, still uttering their com- 
plaints. And, further, the body, with extreme reluctance, 35 
given up to the mother, Livia, was almost deprived of its ob- 
sequies. For all the army had resolved to place its general to 
be burnt amid those arms, amid which he had perished. From 
them, in their reluctance, did his brother take 36 the venerated 
corpse ; and, so far as was allowed, he gave Drusus back to 
his country. The funeral train of Drusus is escorted through 
the Roman towns; oh shocking calamity! places, through 
which, as conqueror he was to have gone : through which he 
had proceeded when the Rheetian arms 37 were subdued. Ah 
me ! How different was this progress from that ! 

A Consul, he enters the City with broken fasces. 38 When thus 

32 Thee at least."] — Ver. 157. She addresses Tiberius, and tells him 
that he is left to close her eyes, and to catch her dying breath. 

33 In this one tomb.'] — Ver. 162. From Dio Cassius, we learn that 
Drusus was buried in the tomb of the Caesars, and not in that of the 
Claudian or Livian family. 

34 Ashes with ashes.]— Ver. 163. This is not unlike the words of our 
funeral service, ' Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.' 

35 With extreme reluctance.] — Ver. 167. So great was the affection of 
his soldiers for Drusus, that they would hardly allow his body to be car- 
ried to Rome, insisting that it should be burnt where he died. They 
built a splendid cenotaph in his honour, on the banks of the Rhine. 

26 Did his brother take.] — Ver. 171. We learn from Suetonius and 
Valerius Maximus, that on learning the accident that had happened to 
Drusus, Tiberius took horse at Tiscinum, (now Pavia), and travelled 
night and day till he reached his brother, who was then in Germany, near 
the Rhine. He accompanied the body to Rome, preceding it on foot all 
the way. 

37 The Rhcetian arms.] — Ver. 175. The country of*the Rhaeti lay be- 
tween the Danube, the Rhine, and the Lieb. 

38 With broken fasces.] — Ver. 177. The meaning is, ' If a Consul and 
a conqueror enters the City amid such signs of mourning, what would have 



510 THE CONSOLATION 

the conqueror enters, what should the conquered do ? The 
sad abode resounds with lamentations, in which its joyous 
master had promised to fix up the arms 39 that were won by 
his hand. The City is sorrowing, and in its wretchedness as- 
sumes but one aspect ; may such be the appearance of the 
hostile nations, I pray ! Disquieted, people both shut up their 
houses, and throughout the City do they clamour aloud. ; in 
this spot and in that, in their alarm, do they lament, both in 
private and in public. Justice is silent ; and the laws, struck 
dumb, without their assertors 40 are mute ; in the whole Forum 
no purple garment is beheld. 

The Deities, too, lie concealed in their temples, and turn 
not their faces towards the hateful funereal rites ; nor ask they 
for the frankincense that must be laid upon the funeral pile. 41 
Their shrines hold them in their obscurity; they are ashamed 
to look 42 upon the faces of their worshippers, through fear of the 
hatred which they have deserved. One, too, of the lower 
ranks, in his affection, on behalf of his poor son, had raised his 
trembling hands towards the lofty heavens ; and now about 
to pray — " But why, in my credulity," says he, "should I ad- 
dress unavailing vows to Gods who do not exist ? Livia, no, 
not Livia, has moved them on behalf of Drusus ; and shall I 
be any very great care to mighty Jove V Thus he said ; and 
in his anger he left his vows unperformed ; and. he hardened 
his determination, and ceased from his prayers. 

The multitude rushes to meet the procession : and while 

been the aspect of things, had he entered the City, after having been 
vanquished ?' 

39 To fix up the arms.] — Ver. 179. The arms of the enemy were hung 
up in the house of the conqueror, as a votive gift to the Gods. 

4,) Without their assertors.] — Ver. 185. In the Courts of law at Rome, 
a defendant who had been condemned to pay a certain sum, had thirty 
days allowed him in which to make payment ; after which time, if he 
made default, he was liable to 'injectio manus,' a kind of execution. In 
such case he could make no resistance, and his only mode of proceeding 
was to find some responsible person to undertake his defence, who was 
called ' vindex.' This person, it is supposed, was liable to pay, if he 
could find no good defence to the plaintiff 's claim. The word ' vindex' 
is here translated ' assertor.' 

41 The funeral pile.) — Ver. 188. Nisard seems to think that'rogo' 
means the altars of the' Gods, and not the funeral pile. 

42 They are ashamed to look.] — Ver. 190. For their harshness in re- 
moving a person so worthy. 



TO LIVIA AUGUSTA. 511 

tears bedew their cheeks, they recount the public loss in being 
deprived of the Consul. The eyes of all are the same in ap- 
pearance ; their tearful sympathy is alike. At the funeral 
obsequies all of us Knights 43 are present. Every age is there; 
both youths and aged men are sorrowing ; Ausonian mothers 
and Ausonian brides. The victorious laurel, too, which was 
owed to the temples of the Deities, is borne first, in sadness, 
upon the image of him who won it. The noble youths contend 
to support the burden of the bier, and strive to offer their zealous 
necks for the duty. Both with thy voice, Caesar, 44 and in thy 
tears, wast thou praising thy adopted child ; when grief, in the 
midst, interrupted thy sad commencement. The Gods repel- 
ling the omen, for death like this for thyself didst thou pray ; 
if thy Destinies would permit thee to die. But the heavens are 
thy due ; thee, the great palace of anxious Jove, all powerful 
with its thunders, shall receive. 

What Drusus wished for, he has obtained, that his acts 
might be pleasing to thee ; and in thy praises he has a great 
recompense for his death. According to custom, the cohorts 
in arms 45 throng around the pile, and foot and horse perform 
the funeral obsequies for their chief. Again and again in 
their closing shouts do they call upon thee ; but the sound 
returns, re-echoed by the opposite hills. Father Tiberinus 46 
himself shuddered in his yellow waves ; and, lowering, raised 
his head from the midst of the stream. Then with his vast 
hands did he remove from his azure features his locks en- 
twined with willows, and moss, and reeds ; and from his 

43 All of us Knights.] — Ver. 202. The writer speaks of himself as being 
one of the ' Equites ' in the funeral procession. Ovid was of the Equestrian 
order. 

44 With thy voice, Ccesar.'] — Ver. 209. According to Suetonius, ' Au- 
gustus had such affection for Drusus in his lifetime, that he nominated 
him to be co-heir with his own sons, as he once declared before the 
Senate ; and when dead, he made an oration in his praise, and prayed that 
the Gods would make the Caesars like him, and grant him as honorable 
an end as they had bestowed on Drusus.' Augustus also wrote the history 
of his life. 

45 The cohorts in arms ] — Ver. 217. At the funeral of a general, it 
was the custom for the soldiers to march three times round the funeral 
pile. 

46 Father Tiberinus ]— Ver. 221. See the Note to line 257 of the 
Remedy of Love. 



512 THE CONSOLATION 

swollen eyes did he send forth streams of tears ; hardly did 
his deep channel contain the streams 47 so added. 

And now had he resolved 48 to extinguish the flames of the 
pile with the contact of his stream, and to carry off the body 
untouched. He was withholding his waters, and was check- 
ing the speed of his steeds, that with all his stream he might 
be enabled to wash away the pile. But Mavors adjoining 49 
in his temple, and an inhabitant of the " Plain," uttered thus 
many words, and not even he with tearless cheeks ; 

" Although anger befits streams, still, Tiberinus, do thou 
rest ; neither to thee nor to any is it given to subdue the 
Destinies. Under my tutelage 50 did he die ; amid arms and 
weapons did he die, and as a general in the service of his 
country. In his tomb does the reason lie concealed. What 
I could contribute, I have given ; the victory has been gained. 
The doer of the work is gone, but still the work remains. 
Once did I solicit both Clotho and her two sisters, who with 
unerring fingers tease their rigid tasks, that Remus, the son of 
Ilia, and his brother, founder of the City, might by some 
method escape the deep pools of Styx. One of them said to 
me, " Take that half of the gift which is presented thee ; of 
those for which thou dost ask, one shall there be ; he is pro- 
mised to thee ; next are the two Csesars promised 51 to Venus. 
These alone does Rome, City of Mars, own as Divinities." 
Thus did the Goddesses pronounce, and do not thou, Tiberinus, 
struggle in vain ; impede not the flames with thy stream, and 
obstruct not the last honours of the youth now laid on the pile. 
Proceed then, and roll onwards with thy waters in their full 
career." 

47 Contain the streams.'] — Ver. 226. The author uses the licence of a 
poet, and refers on this occasion to what really happened at the funeral 
of Marcellus. Dio Cassius tells us, that on that occasion the waters of 
the Tiber were so swollen, that the Sulpician bridge was carried away, 
and the streets of the City were navigable for boats during three days. 

48 Now had he resolved.] — Ver. 227. The Campus Martius, where the 
body was burnt, adjoined the river Tiber. 

49 Mavors adjoining.] — Ver. 231. He alludes to the Temple of Mars, 
in the Campus Martius ; it was burnt a.tj.c. 754. 

60 Under my tutelage.] — Ver. 235. This line and the next are probably 
corrupt ; it is difficult to glean any meaning from them. 

51 The two Ccesars promised.] — Ver. 245. He alludes to the promise 
of immortality by Venus to Julius Caesar and Augustus. See the close of 
the Fifteenth Book of the Metamorphoses. 



TO LIYTA AUGUSTA. 513 

He obeyed ; and far and wide did he disengage his extending 
waters, and entered his abode formed with the pendant pumice. 

The flames having long hesitated to reach that hallowed 
head, slowly strayed onwards beneath the erected pile ; at 
length, when they had caught the wood and embraced the 
fuel, they flickered even to the skies and the stars with their 
flakes beneath. Just as they shone, upon the peaks of (Eta, 
sacred to Hercules, when, the God laid on the pile, his limbs 
were burnt. He is burning, alas ! That manly grace, that 
noble form, those candid features, that athletic frame, is being 
consumed ! The victorious hands, too, and those eloquent 
lips of the prince, and that breast, the great and capacious 
abode of genius ! In those same flames the hopes of many 
a one are consumed as well. The offspring of a wretched 
mother does that funeral pile contain. The exploits of the 
chieftain will survive, and the glory of his deeds so laboriously 
acquired : that still abides, that alone escapes the ravening 
pyre. 'Twill form a portion of history, and will be read in 
every age, and will present itself as a theme for genius and 
for song. In the Rostra, 52 too, shalt thou stand graced with 
the honours of thy inscription ; and we, Drusus, shall be pro- 
nounced the cause of thy death. 

But, Germany, for thee no right to indulgence now remains ; 
henceforth, barbarian, by death shalt thou give satisfaction. 
I shall behold the necks of kings livid with their chains, 
and the remorseless manacles fastened on their cruel hands, 

52 In the Rostra. J — Ver. 269. Suetonius and Dio Cassius inform us 
that the Senate decreed, among other honours, a rnarhle arch with trophies 
in the Appian way, in honour of Drusus, and gave the name of Germanicus 
to him and his descendants. On his medals he is styled 'Claudius Drusus 
Germanicus Imp.' Florus says that it was the first time that the Senate 
had decreed a ' cognomen ' to any person derived from the province which 
he had ruled. By the name of ' Rostra,' or ' the Beaks,' a part of the 
Forum is referred to. It was the spot whence the orators addressed the 
people, and obtained the name of ' Rostra ' when it was adorned with 
the brazen beaks taken from the ships of the Antiates. The ■ Rostra,' or 
place from which the orators spoke, was transposed by Julius Caesar to a 
corner of the Forum ; but the spot where the ancient ' Rostra ' had stood, 
still continued to be called ' Rostra Vetera,' or ' the old,' while the other 
was ' the new,' or ' Julia nova,' or ' Julia Rostra.' Both the ' Rostra ' 
contained statues of illustrious men : the new ' Rostra ' having eques- 
trian statues of Julius C&sar, Sylla, Pompey, and Augustus. To this 
reference is here made. 

L L 






514 THE CONSOLATION 

and their features at last bearing marks of fear, and the tears 
trickling down the reluctant cheeks upon the features of those 
ferocious men. That spirit so threatening, and so elated in 
the death of Drusus, in the mournful prison shall be sur- 
rendered to the executioner. 53 I shall stop, and with joyous eyes, 
and unconcernedly will I behold their naked bodies strewed 
about the unclean roads. Right soon shall dewy Aurora, 
with her saffron-coloured steeds, bring on the day that will 
present sights so mighty. Add, too, the brothers, sons of 
Leda, 54 those stars so attached, and the temples conspicuous 
in the Forum of Rome. 55 In how short a life of our prince 
did he complete his years, and how muck an aged man in the 
obligations of his country did he die ! 

And still, ah wretched me ! Drusus shall not behold his 
own honours, and on the front of the temple no name of his 
shall he read. Full oft shall Nero, as he weeps, say with a 
low voice, " Why, without a brother, alas ! do I repair 56 to 
the brother Gods ?" Drusus, thou hadst resolved never to 
return but as a conqueror. This occasion owed thee to us ; 
thou wast a conqueror. Of our Consul, of our general, of 
our general a conqueror are we now deprived. Lo ! through 
the whole City does grief find a place. But the faces of his 
companions are squalid with dishevelled hair ; an unhappy 
throng, but moved by affection towards their own Drusus. 

53 To the executioner.'] — Ver. 278. While the triumphal procession 
was ascending the Capitoline hill, it was the custom to take aside some 
of the chiefs of the enemy, who had been led in the procession, to an ad- 
joining prison, and to put them to death. When it was announced that 
this slaughter had taken place, the victims were sacrificed to the Gods, an 
offering from the spoils was presented to Jupiter, and the laurel wreath of 
the triumphant general was deposited in the lap of the God. The dead 
bodies of the unfortunate captives were dragged through the streets, and 
often left there. 

54 Sons of Leda. ,] — Veri 283. For an account of this Constellation, see 
the Fasti, Book v. 1. 698. 

55 In the Forum of Rome.] — Ver. 284. Tiberius built a temple of 
Castor and Pollux, and dedicated it in the name of Drusus and himself, as 
a memorial of their affection. The expense was defrayed out of the booty 
taken from the Germans. He also restored the Temple of Concord, in 
the name of Drusus and himself. See the Fasti, Book i. 1. 645. 

66 Do I repair.] — Ver. 290. Why do I dedicate a temple to the bro- 
thers Castor and Pollux, who so forcibly remind me of the brother taken 
from me ? 



TO LTTIA AUGUSTA. 515 

One of these, as he raises his arms towards thee, says, " Why 
without me, why thus unattended dost thou depart V 

What shall I say of thee, lady, most worthy of Drusus for thy 
husband ; 57 a daughter-in-law, too, worthy of the parent of 
Drusus ; a pair well matched ; the one the bravest of the 
youths, the other the mutual care of a hero so brave ? A 
princely woman art thou ; the daughter of Caesar thou ; 58 
to him didst thou appear not inferior to the wife of mighty 
Jove. Thou wast his acknowledged love ; thou wast his 
only love, 59 and his last ; thou wast his pleasing solace, when 
wearied with his labours. As he died, in his very last words 
did he lament that thou wast away ; and his chilled tongue 
moved in repeating thy name. To thy sorrow thou dost re- 
ceive him again, not such as he himself had promised ; not 
such as he was sent, nor returns he as thine own. 

He will not be able to recount to thee the conquered 
Sygambri, 60 and how the Suevi had turned their backs on his 
sword. The rivers, too, and the mountains, and the celebrated 
names of spots ; and if he has beheld aught that is wondrous 
in this new portion of the earth. 61 Cold is he brought back 
to thee, and a lifeless corpse ; and lo! the couch is strewed 
for him to press without thyself. Whither art thou hurried 
away, tearing thy locks, and similar to one insane 1 Whither 
dost thou rush ? Why tear thy face with frenzied hand ? 

57 For thy husband.] — Ver. 299. He now refers to Antonia, the wife of 
Drusus. She was the daughter of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, hy Marc 
Antony. After the death of her husband, she devoted all her attention to 
the education of her children : Germanicus, the virtuous father of Caligula, 
a worthless son ; Claudius, who was afterwards emperor ; and Livia, or 
Livilla, who disgraced herself by her dissolute life. Suetonius hints that 
she was poisoned by Caligula. 

58 Daughter of Casar thou.~\ — Ver. 303. She was the niece of Augustus; 
but probably shared his affections with her husband, his adopted son. 

69 Wast his only love.] — Ver. 305. Valerius Maxiruus praises the 
exemplary chastity of Drusus. 

60 The conquered Sygambri.'] — Ver. 311. Florus tells us, that on this 
occasion the Cherusci, Suevi, and Sygambri, made a sacrifice by burning 
twenty captive centurions, and took an oath to assist each other in prose- 
cuting the war ; and that they made themselves so sure of victory, that 
they divided the spoil before they obtained it. The Cherusci were to 
have the horses, the Sygambri the captives, and the Suevi the gold and 
silver. They were, however, completely routed by Drusus. 

61 New portion of the earth.] — Ver. ,314. He alludes to the interior of 
Cermany, which had been but recentlv explored by Roman enterprise. 

ll2 



516 THE CONSOLATION 

Thus was Andromache, when her husband, bound to the 
chariot, besmeared with blood, alarmed the steeds in their 
full career. Thus was Evadne, at the time when Capaneus 
exposed his fearless face to be smitten by the flashing lightnings. 
Why, in thy sadness, dost thou implore death for thyself, and 
embracing thy sons, hold the only pledges of Drusus that are 
left? And sometimes in sleep art thou agitated by deceiving 
visions, and dost thou believe that thou art folding thy Drusus 
to thy bosom ? And why, with thy hand, dost thou suddenly 
feel /or him, and hope that thou hast regained him, and why 
dost thou seek him in the other half of thy couch ? 62 

If these things are not believed without reason, he will be 
received in the fields of the blessed among his illustrious 
ancestors ; and as the great glory of his maternal and an 
equal glory of his paternal forefathers, glittering in gold shall 
he proceed in the chariot drawn by four steeds ; ennobled, 
both in his regal habit and in his chariot adorned with ivory, 
he shall have his temples wreathed with the triumphal branch. 
They shall receive the youth bearing the standards of Ger- 
many, and the honours that are conspicuous in the rule of a 
Consul ; and with justice shall they rejoice in the surname of 
their family, which he alone, 63 victorious, has received from a 
conquered foe. Hardly will they believe that years that few 
embraced exploits so great ; they will think that the great 
deeds of the hero demanded an extended range. 

These things shall raise him on high ; these things, best of 
mothers, ought to mitigate thy sorrows. Lady, worthy of 
those whom the golden age produced, worthy of princes for 
thy sons, of a prince for thy husband. Consider what becomes 
the mother of Drusus, and the mother of Nero ; consider from 
whose couch in the morning thou dost rise. The same things 
befit not the vulgar, and the lights of the world ; there is that 
which especially is due from that house. Fortune has placed 
thee, Livia, on high, and has ordered thee to keep that elevated 
position ; support then its responsibilities. Towards thyself, 
eyes and ears dost thou attract ; thy deeds we keep in view ; 
and.no words that are uttered by the lips of an exalted per- 

62 Other half of thy couch. ~\ — Ver. 328. 'Parte prioretori.' Seethe 
Note to the 659th line of the Eighth Book of the Metamorphoses. 

63 Which he alone.'] — Ver. 338. ' Solus,' as suggested by Heinsivu, 
seems preferable here to ' solum.' 



TO LIYIA AUGUSTA. 51/ 

sonage can be concealed. Abide thus exalted ; and rise 
superior to thy woes ; and ever, as thou canst, keep thy re- 
solve unbroken. Shall we to better advantage seek through 
thee an example of virtue, than if thou art performing the 
duties of the Roman female of rank most elevated 1 

The Destinies await us all, for all the unsparing ferryman 64 
looks ; and for the multitude hardly enough is his one boat. 
Hither are we all hurrying ; towards the same goal do we 
hasten ; gloomy death summons all to her sway. See anni- 
hilation awaiting the heavens, and earth, and ocean ; and 
they predict that the threefold work 65 is destined to perish. 
Go then, and while ruin so great impends upon the universe, 
turn thine eyes to thyself alone, and to thy losses. He 
lived, the greatest, indeed, of the youths, the hope of the 
people ; and the supreme glory of the house in which he was 
born. But still he was mortal ; and while thy progeny was 
waging valorous warfare, thou wast not free from care. The 
life that has been granted, is but lent ; without any interest 
has it been lent to us, and not to be paid back on any 
certain day. Everywhere does fortune dispose of our time at 
her own discretion. The young she carries off; the aged does 
she spare. And wherever she rushes, in frenzied manner does 
she rush ; and throughout the whole world does she hurl her 
lightnings, and blindly does she trample with her blinded 
steeds. 

Forbear, by complaining, to irritate the realms of the re- 
lentless Goddess ; forbear to hurt the feelings of the powerful 
mistress of the world. Although on this one occasion in sad- 
ness has she come to thee, full oft with friendly feelings has 
she shewn favour to thy fortunes. Inasmuch, behold ! as thou 
wast born of high station, inasmuch as thou wast blessed with 
two children, inasmuch, too, as thou wast united to the great 
Jove ; inasmuch as Csesar has always returned to thee from a 
world subdued, and has waged successful wars with uncon- 

64 The unsparing ferryman.~] — Ver. 358. Charon, the ferryman of the 
Infernal regions. 

65 The threefold work.~]—Ver. 362. He alludes to the First Book of 
Lucretius, 1. 95. See also the Tristia, Book ii. 1. 426, and the Note to the 
passage, where this line, ' Casurumque triplex vaticinantur opus,' ' They 
prophesy that the threefold work will again perish,' again occurs. This 
is certainly a strong item of internal evidence that Ovid was the author 
of this poem. 



518 THE CONSOLATION 

quered hand; inasmuch as the Neros have fulfilled thy 
hopes and thy maternal wishes ; and inasmuch as the enemy 
has been routed by each general so oft. The Rhine and the 
valleys of the Alps, and the Itargus, 66 discoloured with black 
blood, with its tainted waters, is a witness. The impetuous 
Danube, too, and the Dacian retreats, 67 in the extremity of the 
earth (to that enemy short is the road by the bridge) ; and the 
flying Armenian, 68 and the Dalmatian a suppliant at last ; and 
the Pannonians 69 dispersed along the high mountain summits; 
the German regions, too, but lately known to the Romans ; 
consider how much less is one mishap than deserts so many. 

Besides, far away did he die ; thine eyes, too, had not to 
endure those of thy son half closed in death. The grief 
as well, most gently stole upon thy oppressed feelings ; with 
thine ears wast thou obliged to hear of thy sorrows. Appre- 
hension, too, anticipates griefs amid long dangers ; hearing of 
these, anxious in mind wast thou. Grief has not on a sudden 
invaded thy breast, but by degrees, already made endurable 
by apprehensions. 

Jupiter had already given thee the sad tokens of this cruel 
misfortune, when with his flaming hand he hurled against the 
three temples ; and in the direful night, the abode of Juno, 78 

66 The Itargus.'] — Ver. 386. The river Weser is generally supposed to 
be referred to ; though it is more generally known by the name of 
' Isurgis,' or ' Visurgis.' It is mentioned by Florus, in his account of the 
expedition of Drusus. Cluverius thinks that a river of Suevia, whose 
modern name is ' Iser,' is here referred to. 

6 7 The Dacian retreats.'] — Ver. 388. The suggestion of Heinsius has 
been adopted here ; 'angulus ' for ' Auplus,' and ' pontis ' for ' Pontus,' 
as the common reading makes complete nonsense. He probably alludes 
to the bridge which it was necessary to throw over the Danube, for the 
purpose of reaching the Dacians, who inhabited the region that is now 
called Transylvania. 

68 The flying Armenian.] — Ver. 389. The Armenians were conquered 
by Tiberius. The Dalmatians were noted for their frequent risings in arms 
against the Romans. 

69 And the Pannonians.] — Ver. 390. Pannonia was the name of the 
region between the rivers Danube and Save. The present kingdom of 
Hungary is a part of ancient Pannonia. Augustus conquered this region ; 
according to Florus, Virbius was his general ; according to other accounts, 
Tiberius Nero led his forces. 

70 The abode of Juno.] — Ver. 403. He alludes to an ominous confla- 
gration of the temples, which are mentioned in the line before. He seems 
to include ' the holy house of Caesar ' as one of these temples. Dio Cassius 



TO LIVIA AUGUSTA. 519 

and of the undaunted Minerva, and the holy house of the 
all-powerful Caesar were struck. The stars are said, more- 
over, to have fled from the heavens ; and Lucifer to have for- 
saken his wonted paths. To no one throughout the whole 
earth did Lucifer appear, and the day came, 71 the star not 
preceding it. The disappearance of the star forewarned that 
this was impending over the world ; and that a princely 
light was being extinguished in the Stygian waves. 

But thou, who dost 72 survive as a solace to thy sorrowing 
mother, I pray that by her thou mayst be beheld an aged 
man. Long, too, mayst thou live through the years of 
thy brother and thine own ; and, an aged woman, may thy 
mother live with her husband, an aged man. I pray for what 
will come to pass : the Deity, while he shall wish to atone 
for what has passed, after Drusus is departed, will provide 
the rest as cause of joy. And yet thou canst venture 73 
to indulge in griefs so great, as to be unwilling, alas ! disas- 
trously resolute, any longer to take nourishment. For a few 
hours, too, hardly wast thou alive, when Caesar brought thee, 
though reluctant, his aid, and used his entreaties, and with 
them mingled his commands ; and he moistened thy parched 
throat with water poured down it. And not less is the care of 
the son to save his parent ; he applies soothing entreaties, and 
not without commands. The meritorious deeds of thy hus- 
band and thy son came to the ears of all ; by the aid, Iivia, of 
thy husband and thy son, wast thou saved. Now repress 
thy tears ; by these he cannot be recalled, whom once the 
ferryman has borne in his bark 74 that conveys the shades. 

So many brothers, and so many sisters lamented Hector, 
and his father, and his wife, and Astyanax his son, and his 
aged mother ; still, for the flames was he redeemed from 
Achilles, and no shade of his sailed back over the Stygian 

mentions the temple of Jupiter, and one other near it as being burnt. It 
is suggested by Heinsius, that this and the following line are spurious. 

71 And the day came.'j — Ver. 406. He means that the morning was 
overclouded in an unusnal degree. 

72 But thou, who dost.} — Ver. 411. He now addresses Tiberius. 

73 Thou canst venture.} — Ver. 417. He alludes to a resolution which 
Livia had formed to starve herself, and which she would have persisted in, 
had it not been for the intervention of Augustus. Seneca, however, says 
that she bore her loss with the greatest possible fortitude. 

■* In his bark.']— \ ex. 42S. The bark of Charon. 



520 THE CONSOLATION 

waves. This, too, was the lot of Thetis ; the devastator, 
Achilles, presses the fields of Ilium with his burnt bones. 
For him did his aunt Panope 75 loosen her azure locks, and 
increase the boundless waves with her tears; a hundred 
kindred Goddesses, too, and the aged wife of great Oceanus, 76 
and father Oceanus himself; and Thetis before all; but 
neither Thetis herself, nor all the rest, changed the relentless 
decrees of the devouring God. Why do I here recount things 
bygone ? Octavia bewailed Marcellus, 77 and before the public 
has Caesar bewailed them 78 both ; but of death the decrees 
are inflexible and inevitable; completed, the threads stand, 
not by any hand to be spun over again. 

He himself, sent forth to thee from the shores of the murky 
Avernus, if he were allowed, would utter such words as these 
with a loud voice : " Why dost thou reckon my years ? I have 
reached a maturity beyond my years. 'Tis his deeds that make 
a man aged ; these must be reckoned by thee ; by these was 
my life to be completed, and not by slowly passing years. Of 
my enemies be protracted old age the lot. Of this have my 
ancestors 79 forewarned me, and the Neros my forefathers ; 
both generals broke the might of Carthage. This does that 
house of mighty Caesar warn me, through thee become my 
own. This end, my mother, was bound to be my own. Nor 
yet, my mother, although they themselves confer the greatest 
glory, were honors wanting to those achievements ; thou be- 
holdest my name replete with distinctions. As Consul am I 
read of, and as Germanicus the conqueror of regions unknown, 
the cause of whose death was, alas ! the service of his country. 
I have my conquering temples wreathed with the laurel of 
Apollo ; and I myself have beheld my own funeral obsequies ; 

75 His aunt Panope.'] — Ver. 435. Panope was a Nymph of the sea, 
daughter of Nereus and Doris, sister of Thetis and the aunt of Achilles. 

76 Wife of great Oceanus.]— V er. 438. Tethys. 

77 Octavia bewailed Marcellus.] — Ver. 441. According to Seneca, 
Octavia lamented Marcellus all her life as deeply as she did at the moment 
of his decease. 

73 Coesar bewailed them.] — Ver. 442. Augustus pronounced the fune- 
ral oration over both Marcellus and Octavia. 

79 My ancestors.] — Ver. 451. He alludes to his ancestors of the 
Livian and the Claudian families, namely, Marcus Livius Salinator, and 
Claudius Nero, who, when Consuls, intercepted Hasdrubal, on his road to 
join his brother Hannibal, and slew him. 



TO LIYIA AUGUSTA. 521 

and the evolutions e0 of the men to me so well known, and the 
offerings of Kings ; and all the cities 81 read of under their re- 
spective titles ; and with what affection those youths bore me, 
who, of birth so noble, were before my bier. In fine, I have 
merited to be praised by the hallowed lips of Csesar, and from 
a God have I drawn tears. And am I then to be lamented by 
any one ? Now restrain thy tears. This do I, who am the cause 
of thy tears, entreat." 

Thus does Drusus think, if, in the shades, 82 he only thinks 
at all ; and do not thou think the less exaltedly of a hero so 
great. Thou hast, and long mayst thou have, I pray, a son equal 
to many ; and may the elder half of thy offspring be spared to 
thee. Thou hast a husband, the guardian of mankind ; so long 
as he is safe, it becomes not, Livia, thy house to be in tears. 

80 The evolutions.'] — Ver. 461. These ; decursus,' or 'evolutions,' were 
performed by the soldiers marching round the funeral pile. We learn 
from Suetonius that this custom was observed annually by the soldiers, at 
the honorary tomb which they had erected for Drusus. 

81 And all the cities.] — Ver. 462. The titles of the towns which he 
had taken were exhibited at his funeral, in the same manner in which they 
were usually shewn at a triumph. 

82 If in the shades.]- — Ver. 469. This passage savours strongly of the 
scepticism of Ovid. 



FRAGMENTS OF THE LOST WRITINGS OF 
OVID, 

COLLECTED BY HEINSIUS. 



QuiNTiLTAtf, Book VIII., ch. 5, quotes these words from the 
Medea of Ovid — 

" I can save, dost thou ask if I can destroy as well?" 
Seneca, Suasor. Book III., quotes from the same work — 
" To and fro am I borne, like one filled with the Divinity." 
From the Epigrams of Ovid this line is found quoted — 

"Why should I not say, Furia, I will infuriate thee?" 
Martial, Epigr., Book II., 41, quoting from the Epigrams of 
Ovid, says — 

" ' Laugh, girl, if you are wise, laugh,' I think the Pelig- 
nian Poet said." 

Priscian, Book V., quotes this line from the Epigrams of 
Ovid— 

" Lars Tolumnius being slain, bold Cossus bore off the chief 
spoils." 

From the Phsenomena of Ovid, the following quotations are 
found in — 

Lactantius, De Orig. Error, of Ovid B. II. c. 5, " Signs so 
many in number, and of such a form did the Deity place in 
the heavens ; and, scattered over the darkening shades, he 
commanded them to give their light to the frosty night." 

In the commentary of Probus on the Georgics of Virgil, 
the two following lines are found — 

" Before his knee the seven Pleiads are said to shine ; six 
only are visible, but the seventh is beneath the dark clouds." 

Some authors think that a portion of the Priapeia is the 
composition of Ovid. The elder Seneca (Book I. Controv. 2) 
quotes this line of the Priapeia as having been written by 
him — 

" While foolishly she is dreading a wound in another spot." 



FRAGMENTS OF OVID. 523 

Servius, in his Commentary on the Fourth Book of the 
Georgics, speaking of Orpheus and Eurydice, quotes from 
Ovid— 

" Twice was she snatched away, and yet she lived but once." 
An ancient Scholiast on Horace, Book II. Ode 5, says — 

" Gyges was the name of a youth in the Isle of Cnidos, 
that was sacred to Venus ; of this boy Ovid likewise praises 
the beauty." 
This passage is not found to exist in any of his works. 

Quintilian (Book XII. c. 10) is evidently quoting from some 
poetical composition of Ovid now lost, when he says, "But this 
fades and dies away upon comparison with what is superior, 
just as wool dyed with red pleases less than purple ; but if you 
were to compare it with the colour of that thick coat, it would 
be obscured by the appearance of that which is superior, as 
Ovid says." 

In a very ancient MS., which belonged to Peter Scriverius, 
this Epigram is ascribed to Ovid — 

" Now Phoebus has borne his shining beams into the flow- 
ing waves, renewing his exhausted torch in the stream of 
Tethys. Phoebe appears borne, by her snow-white oxen, and 
gentle sleep glides down from the sethereal sky. The tender 
lambs are sporting by their timid dams, the milky streams 
support their lives spotless as the milk itself" 

In another ancient work this Epigram on Lucretia is 
ascribed to Ovid — 

" When Lucretia pierced her chaste breast with the sword, 
and the stream of blood was pouring forth, she said, * Let 
these be my witnesses that I was not pleased with the tyrant , 
my blood before men, my soul before the Gods.' " 



INDEX 



OF THE 

PRINCIPAL MATTERS CONTAINED IN THE THREE VOLUMES. 

See aho the Introduction to the First Volume, and the Tables of Contents 

prefixed to each Book of the Fasti ; aho the Synoptical View of the 

Metamorphoses in the Second Volume. 



N.B. The First Volume contains the Fasti, the Pontic Writings, the Ibis, 
and the Halieuticon ; the Second Volume contains the Metamorphoses, 
and the present is the Third and concluding Volume. 



Absyrtus, his death, i. 310 

Acca Larentia, i. 88, 170, 197 

Accius, i. 285 

Acerra, ii. 275 

Acheloiis, contends with Hercules, ii. 
301 

Achilles, the pupil of Chiron, i. 195 — 
his birth, ii. 393 — his death, ii. 
437 — the Epistle to, from Briseis, 
hi. 19 — and Deidamia, the story 
of, iii. 405 

Achaemenides, i. 397 — his story, ii. 
489 

" Accursed," the, a street in Rome, i. 
237 

Acis and Galatea, the story of, ii. 469 

Acmonides, the Cyclop, i. 146 

Accetes, his story, ii. Ill 

Aconite, ii. 195 

Acontius, his Epistle to Cydippe, iii. 
220 ; the Epistle to, from Cydippe, 
iii. 231 

Acron, is slain by Romulus, i. 201 

Actseon, is transformed by Diana, ii. 92 
— is killed by his hounds, ii. 93 

Actium, the battle of, i. 44 

Adonis, i. 187— the birth of, ii. 367— 
is beloved by Venus, ii. 368 — his 
death, ii. 376 — a flower springs 
from his blood, ii. 377 — is wor- 
shipped at Rome, iii. 382 

Adversitor, iii. 416 



iEacus, his speech, ii, 249 

jEgina, the pestilence at, ii. 249 

jEgis, i. 127 

^Egypsus, i. 452 

iEneas, and Dido, the story of, i. 114, 
ii. 481 — visits Anius, ii. 463 — is 
Deified, ii. 504 — the Epistle to, 
from Dido, iii. 62 

iEneid,the first line of the, alluded to, 
i. 293 

iEolus, i. 66 — gives fair winds to 
Ulysses, ii. 491 — punishes the 
guilt of Canace, iii. 108 

jEsacus, is changed into a didapper, 
ii. 413 

iEsculapius, the God, is brought to 
Rome, i. 21 ; ii. 544 

Agave, kills her son Pentheus, ii. 115 

Ages, of qualification for offices,i. 179 

Aglauros,and Herse,the story of,ii. 75 

Agmon, is changed into a bird, ii. 502 

Agonalia, the, i. 22 

Agonia,the,i.23 — are repeated, i. 208 

Ajax, and Ulysses contendfor the arms 
of Achilles, ii. 439 — kills him- 
self, and a flower springs from his 
blood, ii. 452 

Alba Longa,i. 68— the Kings of,i. 132 

Albula, i. 63 

Alcmena, i. 287 — her narrative of 
the birth of Hercules, ii. 313 

Alexander the Great, i. 255, 305 



INDEX. 



525 



Alexander, of Pheras, i. 414 

Alexandria, i. 255 

Algidus, the battle of, i. 242 

Allia, the battle of, i. 481 ; iii. 395 

Almo, i. 73, 148 

Aipheus, ii. 184 

Altar, a place of refuge, i. 331 

Althea, causes the death of her son 

Meleager, ii. 283 
Aluta, iii. 441 
Alveus, i. 64 

Amalthea, the story of, i. 181 
Amaryllis, named by Virgil, iii. 418, 

440 
Amazons, the, i. 462 
Amentum, ii. 426 
Ammon, Jupiter, ii. 150 
Amomum, i. 301 
Ampelos, the story of, i. 106 
Amphiaraus, i. 48, 420 
Amphitheatre, ii. 380 
Amphitrite, the Goddess, ii. 2 
Amphorae, smoked, i. 200 
Amulius, the death of, i. 89 
Amusements, of the male sex, iii. 449 
Anacreon, i. 286 

Analectides, what they were, iii. 444 
Anaxarete, and Iphis, the story of, ii. 

511 
Ancilia, i. 99 — their origin, i. 104 
Andromeda, is rescued by Perseus, ii. 

151 — is married to him, ii. 153 
Anger, forbidden, iii. 454 
Anius, his daughters are changed into 

doves, ii. 464 
Anna, sister of Dido, the story of, i. 

117 
Anna Perenna, the festival of,i. 112— 

an inquiry who she was, i. 119 
Annals, the, i. 282 
Antenor, i. 135 
Anticyra, i. 447 
Antilochus, iii. 3 
Antiphates, the Laestrvgon, i. 400 ; 

ii. 491 
Antonia, the wife of Drusus, iii. 515 
Anubis, the Divinity, ii. 335 
Anytus, i. 363 
Apelles, i. 443 
Aphidna, i. 208 



" Apicatus," i. 105 

Aplustre, iii. 102 

April, devoted to Venus, i. 131 — 
why so called, i. 134 

Apollo, flays Marsyas, i. 241 — kills 
Python, ii. 27 — slays Coronis.ii. 7J 
— and Daphne, the story of, ii. 32 — 
his amour with Leucothoe, ii. 129 
— punishes Niobe, ii. 198 — and 
Pan, their musical contest, ii. 387 — 
and Neptune build the walls of 
Troy, ii. 389 — multiplies the years 
of the Sibyl, ii. 484 

Appius Claudius, restricts the ' T ibi- 
cines/ i. 240 

Aquarius, the Constellation, i. 53 

Aqueduct, of Appius, hi. 382 — of the 
Virgin, i. 389 

Arachne, is transformed into a spider, 
ii. 195 

Arbutus, ii. 472 

Areas, becomes a Constellation, ii. 66 

Arctophylax, the Constellation, the 
story of, i. 54 

Ardea, i. 79 — a bird arises from its 
flames, ii. 505 

Areiopagus, ii. 191 

Arena, ii. 380 

Arethusa, ii. 178 — and Aipheus, the 
story of, ii. 184 

Argei, i. 125 — rush-images thrown 
into the Tiber, i. 204 

Argu*, is killed by Mercury, ii. 42 

Ariadne, and Theseus, the story of, i. 
109 ; iii. 39— her Epistle to The- 
seus, hi. 94 — her Crown is made a 
Constellation, ii. 270 

Aricia, i. 99, 243 

Arion, the story of, i. 50 

Aristaeus, the story of, i. 25 

Armour, hi. 133 

Arrows, hi. 93 

Aruspices, iii. 84 

As, iii. 493 

Ascalaphus, the -transformation of, ii. 
181 

Ascra, i. 211 

Ass.the, why sacrificed to Priapus, i. 
26 — is decorated with loaves, i. 
226 



526 



INDEX. 



Assertor, iii. 466 

Astraea, the Goddess, ii. 12 

Astrology, iii. 280 

Asylum, i. 49 

Atalanta, and Hippomanes, the story 
of, ii. 370 

Atalanta, and Meleager, the story of, 
ii. 280 

Atergatis, i. 67 

Athamas, and the handmaid, the story 
of, i. 235 

Athens, visited by Ovid, i. 255 

Atlas, i. 68 — is changed into a 
mountain, ii. 147 

Atreus,andThyestes,the story of, i. 74 

Atri Dies, i. 7 

Atrium Sutorium, i. 127 

Attalus, i. 145 

Attentions, what, to be paid by the 
lover to his mistress, iii. 415 

Attis, the story of, i. 143 — his trans- 
formation, ii. 347 

Auctions, i. 449 

Augur, i. 14, 269 

Augusta Julia (Livia Drusilla), i. 34 

Augustus, his title when assumed, i. 
37 — is made Pontifex Maximus, i. 
107 — is saluted Imperator,i. 163 — 
his statue is erected in the streets, i. 
183 — is addressed by Ovid as a 
Divinity, i. 248 — abolishes the 
Censorship, i. 277 — his conquests, 
i. 281— his abode described, i. 296 
— is complimented, ii. 552 — his af- 
fection for Drusus, iii. 511 

Aulaea, ii. 371 

Aulis, the Grecian fleet detained at, 
ii. 414 

Aventine Forest, the, i. 35 — Hill, the, 
i. 101 

Avernus, ii. 181 

Axenus, the former name of the 
Euxine, i. 330 

Babylon, ii. 121 - 

Bacchanals, the, are changed into 

trees, ii. 382 
Bacchiadae, the, ii. 1 73 i 

Bacchus, the birth of,i. 111. 121 ; ii.j 

99 — conquers India, i. 109 — trans- ' 



forms the Etrurian sailors, ii. 1 1 3 — 
recital of his titles, ii. 119 

Bagoiis, the, address to, iii. 303, 306 

Baiae, iii. 321, 389 

Balista, i. 254; ii. 109 

Ball, i. 291 

Bankers, iii. 500 

Barbitos, iii. 145 

Bare-foot, a custom of walking men- 
tioned, i. 228 

Basternae, i. 280 

Bathing-places, the, of Deities not to 
be looked at, i. 167 

Battus, is changed into a touchstone, 
ii. 74 

Baucis, and Philemon, the story of, ii. 
289 

Beans, and bacon, i. 217 — deemed 
mystic, i. 196 

Bear, Constellation of the, i. 55 

Bears, the two, the Constellations of, 
i. 91 

Bearward, Constellation of the, i. 55 

Bedclothes, iii. 97 

Beds, iii. 46 

Bedstead, ii. 290 

Beehives, iii. 470 

Beginning of the year, i. 14 

Belides, or Danaides.. the, i. 297 

Bellerophon, iii. 372 

Bellona, her Temple, is built, i. 219 

Berecynthia, the Goddess, i. 141 

Betting, iii. 386 

Bidental, iii. 348 

Birthday cake, iii. 283 ; iii. 395 

Birthdav lines, iii. 339 

Birthdays, i, 318 ; iii. 286 

Boasting, indecent, reprehended, iii. 
430 

Boeotia, is so named by Cadmus, ii. 83 

BonaDea, i. 183 

Bootes, the Constellation, i. 54 

Boreas, i. 86 — carries off Orithvia, ii. 
220 

Bottle of hay, i. 92 

Bovillae, i. 119 

Boxing, iii. 344 

Boxwood, ii. 133 

Bractium, i. 404 

Brazen Age, the, ii. 11 



IKDEX. 



527 



Brazen sickle, ii. 232 
Briareus, the Giant, i. 125 
Briseis, her Epistle to Achilles, iii. 19 
Britons, with what colours painted, 

iii. 331 
Brundisium, i. 403 
Brutus, L. Junius, i. 78 — D. Junius, 

i. 231— M. Junius, i. 370 
Buccina, ii. 23 
Bull, the Constellation of the, i. 165 — 

the storv of, i. 203 
Bulla, ii, 349 
Bulls, baited in the Circus, i. 338 : ii. 

417 
Burial, iii. 56 
Burranica potio, i. 168 
Byblis, and Caunus, the story of, ii. 

325— is changed into a fountain, 

ii. 333 
Byron, Lord, swims over the Helles- 
pont, iii. 196 

Cacus, and Hercules, the story of, i. 

35 
Cadmus, names Boeotia, ii. 83— slays 

the dragon, ii. 87— sows its teeth, 

ii. 87— becomes a serpent, ii. 144 
Caduceus, the, ii. 39 
Caelian plain, the, i. 112 
Caena, ii. 291 

Caeneus, the death of, ii. 432 
Caenis, the transformation of, ii. 422 
Caere, i. 227 
Caestus, i. 62 

Calais, and Zethes, the birth of,ii. 221 
Calamis, i. 443 
Calamus, iii. 105 
Calathus, ii. 119; iii, 87 
Calchas, his prediction, ii. 415 
Calendar, i. 3 
Calends, the, i. 7 
Calisto, the story of, i. 54 ; ii. 63 
Callaici, the, conquered by Brutus, i. 

231 
Callatia, i. 271 
Callimachus, i. 263 
Calliope, her song, ii. 170 
Calydonian Boar, the hunt of the, I 

ii. 275 



Caraella, i. 167 

Camere, i. 116 

Camilli, i. 75 

Canace, the Epistle from,toMacareus, 

iii. 104 
Cancelli, iii. 344 

Cancer, or Crab, the Constellation,i. 22 
Candidatus, iii, 468 
Candle-light, recommended to the 

fair, iii. 389 
Canens, pines away with grief for 

Picus, ii. 499 
Canopus, iii. 324 
Canticum, i. 293 
Capenian Gate, the, i. 149, 218 
Caphareus, i. 250 
Capitol, the, i. 9 — is besieged by th« 

Gauls, i. 226 — is saved by Jupiter, 

i. 228 
" Capitale," meaning of, i. 126 
Caprea, the fen of, i. 68 
Caprotine Nones, iii. 417 
Capsa, i. 251 
Capta, Minerva, i. 126 
Captives, execution of, iii. 514 
Capulus, ii. 202 
Carceres, i. 360 
Carchesium, ii. 233 
Caristia, the Festival of the, i. 74 
Carmenta, arrives in Italy, i. 30 — is 

Deified, i. 36 — the Gate of, i. 55 
Carna, the Festival of the Goddess. 

i. 214 
Carpenta, i. 39 
Carseoli, i. 163 
Castor, i. 208 — and Pollux, the 

Temple of, i. 44 ; iii. 515 
Catapulta, i. 254 ; ii. 109 
Catullus, i. 288 
Caunus, and Byblis, the storv of, ii. 

325 
Causia, ii. 39 
Celer, kills Remus, i. 170 
Celeus, i. 156 
Celeusma, i. 147 
Celmus, is changed into adamant, ii. 

1 1 
Celsus, A. Cornelius, his death, i. 391 
Cenchrese, i. 270 



528 



LKDEX. 



Cenotaph, ii. 399 — erected to Drusus, I Circensian games, the, i. 163 



ni. 509 
Censors, i. 220 
Censorship, abolished by Augustus, 

i. 277 
Centaur, Constellation of the, i. 1 94 
Centaurs, and the Lapithae, the com- 
bat of the, ii. 423 
Centumviri, the, i. 177; iii. 288 
Cephalus, and Procris, the story of, 

ii. 254 ; iii. 459 
Cerae, iii. 134 
Cerastae, the transformation of the, 

ii. 356 
Ceratus, i. 145 
Cerberus, is chained by Hercules, ii. 

243 
Cercopes, the, are changed into apes, 

ii. 482 
Cerealia, or Festival of Ceres, i. 152 
Ceres, i. 12, 69 — her search for Pro- 
serpine, i. 154 ; ii. 175— and Trip- 
tolemus, the story of, i. 157 — 
transforms Stellio into a newt, ii. 
175 — address to, iii. 367 
" Ceromaticus," ii. 201 
Ceyx, and Halcyone, the story of, ii. 

399 
Chaos, is reduced to order, ii. 1 
Chaplets, iii. 138 
Chariot, i. 326 

Chariot-race, description of a, iii. 340 
Chariots, why called ' carpenta,' i. 39 
Charioteers, in the Circus, iii. 340 
Chelys, iii. 154 

Chilo, his famous saying, iii. 425 
Chimsera, the, ii- 206 
Chione, is debauched by Mercurv, ii. 

394 
Chiron, the death of,i. 194 — is tutor 

of Achilles, iii. 379 
Cinnus, ii. 175 
Cinvras, and Myrrha, the story of, ii. 

359 
Cippus, becomes horned, ii. 539 



Circi, the, i. 63 

Circus, Maximus, the, i. 63 — scenes 

in the, described, iii. 385— of Flora, 

i. 185 
Ciris, ii. 268 
Cithara, iii. 27 
Citorus, Mount, ii. 133 
Claros, i. 3 

Claudia Quinta, the story of, i. 147 
Claudii, the, iii. 520. 
Claudius Marcellus, i. 172 
Clausus, i. 147 
Clusius, i. 12 
Clymenus, Pluto, i. 243 
Clytie, her jealousy and punishment, 

ii. 129 
Coan cloth, iii. 258 
Cocetum, i. 139 

Cohors (the poultry yard), i. 164 
Coin, the, and balance, i. 4 71 
Collatia, i. 79 
Collinian gate, iii. 481 
Colour, the, of books, i. 247 
Combs, ii. 133 
Comitia, the, i. 6 

Complexion, on the care of the, iii. 491 
Conceit, censured, iii. 454 
Concord, the Temple of, i. 40 ; the 

Dedication of, by Livia Augusta, 

i. 238 
Conductor, iii. 289— of lightning, i. 

103 
Consular Procession, the, i. 467 
Consulship, the, established, i. 83 
Consus, the Divinity, i. 97 
Coral, how first produced, ii. 153 
Corinna, i. 340 — her charms, iii. 269 

— who she was, iii. 270 — addresses 

to, by Ovid, iii. 321, 323, 326, 331 
Corinthian brass, ii. 210 
Corniculum, i. 237 
Cornu, ii. 9. 

I Cornua (of books), i. 248 
! Cornucopia, the, i. 182 ; ii. 303 



Circe, i. 135 — changes Scylla into a | Coronae, the story of the, ii 465 
rock, ii. 480 — and Picus, the story j Coronis, i. 21 — is changed into a 
of, ii. 497 — and Ulysses, the stoiy i crow, ii. 68 
of, iii. 472 Coronis, is slain by Apollo, ii. 71 



INDEX. 



529 



Cortina, ii. 544 

Corvinus,Valerius, i. 38 

Corybantes, the, i. 143 

Corytos, i. 356 

Cosmetics, iii. 144 

Costum, i. 24 ; ii. 360 

Cothurnus, i. 193, 287 

Cotys, king of Thrace, i. 413 

Couch, iii. 114 

Couch-cushion, ii. 158 

Country, the praises of the, iii. 469 

Countrymen, are changed into frogs, 

ii. 205 
Courts, of Law, i. 13 
Crab, (Cancer), Constellation of the, 

i. 22 
Crane, and Janus, the story of, i. 215 
Crassi, the defeat of the, i. 202 
Cremera, the battle of, i. 56 
Cretans, their untruthfulness, iii. 390 
Crinale, i. 428 
Crocus, i. 187 ; becomes a flower, 

iii. 131 
Croesus, i. 308, 446 
Crosier, i. 227 
Cross, i. 385 

Cross-roads, statues at the, i. 182 
Crotona, the foundation of, ii. 519 
Crown, Constellation of the, i. 109 ; 

ii. 270 
Cupid, address to, iii. 317 
Cupids, the, i. 130 
Cures, i. 53 

Curetes, (the priests), i. 143 ; pro- 
duced from a shower, ii. 131 
Curia, iii. 361 
Curiae, the, i. 93 
Curians, the, i. 67 
Curio, i. 69 
Curitis, Juno, i. 71 
Curling, the, of the hair, iii. 398 
Curtian Lake, i. 228 
Curule chair, the, i. 9 
Cyane, dissolves into a fountain, ii.l 74 
Cyanea, the isles of, i. 271 
Cyathus, i. 112 
Cybele, the Festival of, i. 141— her 

worship is introduced at Rome, i. 

145 



Cycnus, is changed into a swan, ii. 61 

Cydippe, the Epistle to, from Acon- 
tius, iii. 220 — her Epistle to Acon- 
tius, iii. 231 

Cygnus, his death, ii. 416 

Cynosure, Constellation of the, i. 91 

Cyparissus, is transformed into a cy- 
press, ii. 348 

Cypassis, the handmaid of Corinna, 
is addressed, iii. 315, 316 

Cypress, used at funerals, ii. 350* 

Cvrene, the Nymph, i. 25 

Cyrus, the birth of, i. 87 

Dactyli, the, i. 143 

Daedalion, is changed into a hawk, 

ii. 395 
Daedalus, and Icarus, the story of, ii. 

271 ; iii. 409— kills Perdix,'ii. 273 
Danai'des, the Portico of the, i. 297 
Dancing, i. 113; iii. 308 
Danube, the same as the Ister, i. 

388 
Daphne, is changed into a laurel, ii. 

33 
Daphnis. is changed into a stone, ii. 

131 
Days, certain, not propitious for love- 
making, iii. 394 
Death, personified, iii. 363 
Decemvir, the office of, filled bv Ovid, 

i. 151 
Decemviri, the, i. 48 
Decursus, iii. 521 
Defrutum, i. 168 
Deianira, her marriage to Hercules, 

ii. 305 — her Epistle to Hercules, 

iii. 81 
Deidamia and Achilles, the storv of, 

iii. 404 
Delia, iii. 366 
Delubrum, iii. 116 
Deluge, the, of Deucalion, ii. 20 
Demophobn, the Epistle to, from 

Phyllis, iii. 10— his Epistle to 

Phyllis, iii. 251 
Dentatus, M. Curius, i. 182 
Dercetis, the Goddess, ii. 1 20 
Desultor, iii, 265 

M it 



5.30 



INDEX. 



Deucalion, and Pyrrha, the story of, 

ii. 24 
Diana, the Temple of, on the Aven- 

tine Hill, i. 129 — transforms Ac- 

taeon,ii.92 — punishes Niobe, ii.198 
Diana, the Triune, i. 26 
Dibapha, i. 51 ; ii. 387 
Didius, i. 235 
Dido, and ./Eneas, the story of, i. 114 

ii. 481 — her Epistle to /Eneas, 

iii. 62 
Dies Fasti, i. 6 
Digamma, the, i. 135 
Diogenes, i. 378 

Diotnedes, the king of Thrace, i. 375 
Diomede3, his companions are 

changed into birds, ii. 502 
Dione, the Goddess, i. 66 
Discerniculum, iii. 297 
Discus, ii. 353 
Dodona, the oracle of, ii. 467; iii. 

412 
Dog, or Dogstar, Constellation of the, 

i. 173 
Dogs, are sacrificed, i. 26 
Dolphin, Constellation of the, i. 52 
" Dominus," iii. 26 
Dragon, the, slain by Cadmus, ii. 87 
DreSs, of the men, rules for the, iii. 

398 — of the women, rules for the, 

iii. 440 
Drinking, by lot, iii. 401 — rules for, 

iii. 462 
Drusus, i. 3, 279— the death of the 

elder, iii. 502 
Dryope, is changed into a tree, ii. I 

321 I 

Duodecim scripta, the game of, i. 

291 ; iii. 414, 448 
Dye, Tyrian, i. 51 — of Amyclae, iii. 48 

Eagle (Aquila), Constellation of the, ! 

i. 209 
Ear-rings, ii. 349 | 

Earth, the, (as a Goddess), i. 43 
Eating, rules for, iii. 461 | 

Echinades, the story of the, ii. 287 j 
Echo, the story of the Nymph, ii. 101 1 
Eclipse, of the Moon, ii. 134 ! 



Egeria, i. 101 — is changed into a 

fountain, ii. 536 
Egyptian airs, iii. 446 
Elaira, and Phoebe, the story of, i.208 
Elegies, Ovid ceases to write, iii. 377 
Eleleus, a name of Bacchus, iii. 32 
Elephant, i. 333 

Eleusinian mysteries, the, i. 157 
Eleusis, i. 156 
Elicius, Jupiter, i. 103 
Elissa, i. 114 
Elpenor, i. 302 ; ii. 4913 
Elvia, the death of, i. 141 
Emeriti, iii. 318 
Enchanters, iii. 57 
Endymion, i. 284 
Ennius, i. 288 

Epaphus, the son of Io, ii. 44 
Ephemeris, iii. 293 
Epitaphs, ii. 409 
Equestrian rank, the, of the family 

of Ovid, i. 278 
Equinox, the Vernal, i. 129 
Equina, the, i. 83— the second, i. Ill 
Equites, the, i. 93, 339 
Equus October, i. 166 
Ergastulum, iii. 274 
Erato, iii. 409. 
Ericthonius, i. 283, 413 ; hi. 321— 

his birth, ii. 68 
Eringo, iii. 150 
Erisicthon, and Metra, the storv of, 

ii. 294 
Eryx, i. 171 
Essedum, i. 417 
Eumenides, the, ii. 283 
Eumolpus, i. 413 
Euphorbus,is allegedby Pythagoras to 

have been his former shape, ii. 522 
Euripus, the, i. 389 
Europa, is carried off by Jupiter, i. 

203; ii. 80 
Eurydice, and Oroheus, the story of, 

ii. 341 
Euxinus, why so called, i. 318 
Evander, i. 180 ; arrives in Italy, i. 

30 
" Evie," the origin of the word, iii. 

400 



INDEX. 



531 



Evil Eye, the, iii. 279 
Excubiae, iii. 272 

Fabii, the, i. 38, 62— the death of, 
i. 55 

Fabius Maximus, i. 57, 222 

Fair sex, the, their allurements, iii. 307 

Falisci, i. 135 — a Festival at, de- 
scribed, iii. 373 

Fans, iii. 343 

Fasces, the, i. 456 — broken on the 
death of a general, iii. 508 

Fascia, or stomacher, the, hi. 47 

Fasting, i. 160 

Faunus, i. 58, 162 — the Festival of, 
i. 55 — and Omphale, the story of, 
i. 59 — is consulted by Numa, i. 101 

Faustulus, i. 88, 170, i97 

*• Favete linguis," i. 8 

Fax, ii. 38 

Februa, i. 46 

February, why it was so called, i. 46 

Feciales, i. 219 

Fenestella, why Fortune was so called, 
i. 236 

Feralia, the, i. 70 

Ferculum, iii. 343 

Feretrum, ii. 202 

Ferry boat, iii. 352 

Fidius, the Divinity, i. 220 

Fillets, i. 87, 138 ; ii. 29 

Fingers, snapping the, i. 196 

Fire, the Sacred, i. 87— and water, 
when interdicted, i. 168 — touched 
by the bride and bridegroom, i. 
168 ; iii. 428— for cooking, how 
kept in, i. 199 

Fish, Constellation of the, i. 66 

Fish, not eaten by the Syrians, why, 
i. 67 — taken with a dart, iii. 407 

Fishermen's holiday, i. 221 

Fistula?, ii. 1 23 

Flabella, hi. 343 

Flagellum, iii. 89 

Flamen, i. 46— Dialis, the, i. 59 

Flaminica, the, i. 106 

Flammeum, ii. 341 

Flora, the Goddess, her history, i. 
186 



Floralia, the, i. 174 — why instituted, 
i. 191 — continued in May, i. 185 

Flute, invention of the, i. 141 

Fools, the Festival of, i. 69 

Fops, to be avoided, iii. 451 

Fora, iii. 361 

Fordicidia, the Festival of the, i. 161 ; 
its origin, i. 162 

Formido, i. 185 

Fornax, i. 69, 225 

Fors Fortuna, the Temple of, i. 244 

Fortuna, i. 358 — the Temple of, is 
built by Servius Tullius, i. 236 

Publica,the Temple of,i. 209 

Virilis, i. 139 



Forum, the Great, i. 121 

Fossores, i. 321 

| Foxes, are set fire to at the Circen- 
! sian games, i. 164 
j Fragments, of the lost writings of 
I Ovid, iii. 522 
i Frankincense, i. 24 — male, iii. 494 

Frons charta?, i. 467 

Funale, ii. 424 

Fundi, i. 418 

Funeral followers, ii. 512 

pile, i. 70 ; hi. 73 

rites, hi. 101 

Gabii, i. 77 

Galanthis, is transformed into a wea- 
sel, ii. 314 

I Galatea, i. 242 — Acis and, the storv 
of, ii. 469 

| Galli, the, iii. 33 

{ Gallus, the Poet, i. 289— his death, 
iii. 366 

j Games, of chance, i. 290 ; iii. 414 — 
thefair ought to understand, iii. 448 

! Ganymede, i. 53 — is carried off by 

Jupiter, ii. 351 
Garland -sellers, i. 245 

! Gauls, the, besiege the Capitol, i. 226; 

| ii. 406; hi. 417 

j Gausape, iii. 419 

1 Geese, ii. 406 

i Genii, the, i. 70, 88 

; Germanicns, i. 2, 279 ; his triumphs 

I near the Rhine, i. 21 

M M 2 



532 



INDEX. 



Getae, their dress described, i. 311 — j 
their manners described, i. 356 

Girdle, i. 206 ; ii. 178 

Glaucus, i. 245 — is transformed into | 
a Sea Divinity, ii. 475 — is repulsed j 
by Scylla, ii. 478 

Globe, the formation of the, ii. 4 

Goat, why sacrificed, i. 24 — whys 



thrown at bv the bovs, 



174 



Goblet, Constellation of the, i. 57 
Gods, the, flight of.from the Giants, ii. , 

169— the war of, with the Giants,) 

ii. 12 
Golden age, the, ii. 9 
Gorge, iii. 432 
Gracchus, i. 473 
Gradivus, Mars, i. 84 
Grape crushing, i.333 
Graphium, iii. 291 
Gratius Faliscus, i. 473 
Gyges, the Giant, i. 159 
Gymnasia, iii. 165 
Gypsum, iii. 282 

" Habet," meaning of the word, iii. 

385 
Fabit, the force of, iii. 480 
Hair, dressing the, iii. 126, 296 — 

dyeing the, iii. 290 — modes of 

dressing the, iii. 439 
Halcyon, the, ii. 410 
Halcyon, and Ceyx. the story of, ii. 

399 
Halcyonea, iii. 493 
Halesus, i. 135 ; iii. 375 
Hamadryads, the, i. 54 
Handicrafts, Minerva the tutelary 

Divinity of, i. 126 
Handmaid, the lover's confidant, iii. 

390 
Hannibal, i. 94 
Hares, are hunted at the Floralia, i. 

194 
Harpies, the, i. 216 
Hasdrubal, i. 244 
Hastati, i. 93 
Hebe, the Goddess, i. 213 
Hecale, iii. 488 
Hecate, the Goddess, i. 12; ii. 225 



Hecuba, kills Polymnestor, ii. 459 — 
is transformed into a bitch, ii. 45!> 

Helen, the Epistle to, from Paris, iii. 
157 — her Epistle to Paris, iii. 178 

Heliades, their transformation, ii. 60 

Helice, the Constellation of, i. 91 

Heliotrope, ii. 131 

Helle, and Phryxus, the story of,i.l28 

Hellebore, the uses of, i. 446 

Hellespont, the, iii. 196 

Helmets, iii. 127 

Henna, in Sicily, i. 153 ; ii. 172 

Hercules, arrives in Italy, i. 34— his 
combat with Cacus, i. 35 — and 
Omphale, i. 59 — visits Chiron, i. 
194 — his temple in the Circus, i. 
220 — chains Cerberus, ii. 243 — 
contends with Acheloiis for Dei- 
anira, ii. 301 — while dying, re- 
counts his exploits, ii. 308 — is Dei- 
fied, ii. 311 — rescues Hesione, ii. 
390 — kills Periclymenus, ii. 435 — 
the Epistle to, from Deianira, iii. 1 8 

Musagetes, his Temple in 

the Circus Flaminius, i. 245 

Hermaphroditus, and Salmacis, the 
story of, ii. 132 

Hermione, or Harmonia, the wife of 
Cadmus, becomes a serpent, ii. 145 

Hermione, her Epistle to Orestes, iii. 
74 

Hero, the Epistle to, from Leander, 
iii. 195 — her Epistle to Leander, 
iii. 208 

Herse, and Aglauros,the story of, ii. 75 

Hersilia, i. 97— is Deified as Ora, ii. 
515 

Hesiod, i. 211 

Hesione, is rescued by Hercules and 
given to Telamon, ii. 390 

iHesperia, her death, ii. 411 

jHippocrene, i. 108, 177 

Hippodamia, iii. 19 

Hippolytus, i. 100 — is brought to 
life by iEsculapius, and worshipped 
as Virbius, i. 243 — the story of his 
death, ii. 537 — the Epistle to, from 
Phaedra, iii. 29 
Hippomanes, iii. 279 



INDEX. 



533 



Hippomenes, and Atalanta, the story 

of, ii. 370 
Homer, his censurers mentioned, iii. 

475 
Honey, i. 15 ; iii. 292 
Hoop, i. 291 
Horace, i. 340 
Horn, of Plenty, ii, 303 
Horns, of Bacchus, i. 110; iii. 378 
Hortator, i. 147 
Hortensius, i. 289 

Hunting, in the Circus, i. 194 ; re- 
commended, iii. 470 
Husband, address to a careless, iii. 

335 — addi-ess to a jealous, iii. 349 
Hyacinth, the, i. 153, 247 
Hyacinthia, the Festival of the, ii. 355 
Hyacinthus, i. 153 — is killed by 

Apollo, ii. 352 — flowers spring up 

from his blood, ii. 352 
Hyades, Constellation of the, i. 184 
Hybla, i. 367 
Hyginus, Caius Julius, whether he 

is attacked in the " Ibis," i. 475 
Hylas, i. 288 
Hypermnestra, her Epistle to Lyn- 

ceus, iii. 135 
Hypsipyle, i. 89 — her Epistle to 

Jason, iii. 50 
Hyrieus, i. 199 

Ianthe, and Iphis, the story of, ii. 335 

Iasius, i. 284 ; iii. 367 

lazyges, the, i. 280 

Ibis, the Invective against the, i. 475 

Icarius, i. 353 

Icarus, i. 174, 251 — and Daedalus, 

the story of, ii. 273 ; iii. 409 
Ichor, i. 157 
Idas, i. 208 
Ides, the, i. 7 

Idleness, to be avoided, iii. 466 
Ilia, and Mars, the story of, i. 63— 

where buried, iii. 354 
Imperfections, how to hide, iii. 444 
" Imperative," i. 70 
Incantations, iii. 278 
Incubatio, i. 162 
" Ingenuae," i. 263 



Initials, the Festival of the four,i. 209 

Ino, i. 74 — andMelicerta, the story of, 
i. 232 ; ii. J 37 — her attendants 
are transformed into rocks, ii. 143 

Inscriptions, carved by lovers, iii. 339 

Inscriptions, funeral, iii. 74 

Instita, i. 139, 282 

Institor, iii. 395, 470 

Io, is changed into a cow, ii. 37— is 
worshipped as Isis, ii. 43 

Io Paean, iii. 408 

Io Triumphe, i. 326 

Iolaiis, is restored to youth, ii. 323 

Iole, i. 288 

Iphis, and Anaxarete, the story of, 
ii. 511 

Iphis, and Ianthe, the story of, ii. 235 

Iris, appears to Hersilia, ii. 515 

Iron Age, the, ii. 1 1 

Isis, the same as Io, ii. 43 ; is in- 
voked in behalf of Corinna, iii. 324 

Ister, the river, i. 388 

Itys, the death of, ii. 216 
j lulus, i. 132 

Ivory, i. 457 

Jacinth, ii. 533 

Jani, i. 19 

Janiculum, i. 19 

Janitor, iii. 39 

Janus, i. 7 — appears to the Author, 
i. 10 — his offices, i. 11 — why so 
called, i. 11 — and Crane, the story 
of, i. 215— the Temple of, iii. 482. 

Jason, conquers the Dragon, and ob- 
tains the Golden Fleece, ii. 223— 
the Epistle to, from Hypsipyle, iii. 
50 — the Epistle to, from Medea, 
iii. Ill 

Jealousy, female, iii. 422 

Jews, at Rome, iii. 382, 395, 471 

Juba, the conquest of, i. 151 

Judices selecti, i. 278 

Jugerum, i. 459 

Julius Caesar, made Pontifex Maxim us, 
i. 120 — his assassination, i. 121 — 
is changed into a comet, ii. 549 

June, the origin of its name, i. 21 1 

jjuno, visits Flora, i. 188 — bears 



534 



INDEX. 



Mars, i. 189 — the Temple of, in 
the Capitol, 211 — changes Calisto 
into a bear, i. 55 ; ii. 65 — takes 
the form of Beroe, ii. 98 — and 
causes the destruction of Semele, 
ii. 100 — strikes Tiresias with blind- 
ness, ii. 100 — the Festival of., at 
Falisci, described, hi. 373 

Juno Caprotina, the Festival of, iii. 
417 

Moneta, the Temple of, is built 

by Camillus, i. 218 

Jupiter, and Calisto, the story of, i. 54 ; 
ii. 64— his love for Juturna, i. 73 
—the birth of, i. 142 — and Maia, 
the story of, i. 180 — visits Hyrieus 
with Neptune and Mercury, i, 
199 — and Europa, the story of, i. 
203 ; ii. 63 — saves the Capitol, i. 
228— and Alcmena, the story of,! 
i. 287; ii. 313 — transforms Ly-I 
caon, ii. 16 — changes Io into aj 
cow, ii. 37 — and Semele, the story 
of, ii. 97 — and Ganymede, the 
story of, ii. 351 

Amnion, ii. 150 

Feretrius, i. 16 

Pistor, i. 226 

Stator, his Temple, i. 248 

Tonans, his Temple, i. 50 

Vejovis, i. 108 

Victor, i. 161 — his Temple, 

i. 161 

Jurisconsultus, iii. 294 

Jusjurandum, iii. 294. 

Juturna, i. 30, 73 

Keeper, the, how to be eluded, iii. 458 
Kite, Constellation of the, the story 
of, i. 125 

Lacerna, i. 80 

Lacertus, i. 494 

Lacus, i. 1 14 

Ladon, ii. 41 

Laelaps (the dog), his transforma- i 

tion, ii. 258 
Laestrygons, the, i. 135 ; ii. 491 
Lais, iii. 271 



Lamps, iii. 217 

Lanuvium, ii. 213 

Laodamia, i. 264 — her Epistle to 

Protesilaiis, iii. 125 
Laomedon, the perjury of, ii. 390 
Lapithae, the, and Centaurs, the com- 
bat of, ii. 423 
Lara, the, story of, i. 73 
Larentalia, the, i. 88 
Larentia, Acca, i. 88, 170, 197 
Lares, the, i. 12, 70, 74, 182: their 

Temple, i. 245 
Praestites, the statues of the, 

are erected by Curius, i. 182 
Laticlave, the, i. 329 
Latinus, i. 71 
Latona, transforms the peasants into 

frogs, ii. 205 
Latrunculi, iii. 415 
Launching, the, of ships, ii. 21 i 
Laurentum, i. 56 
Lavinia, i. 117 
Leander, his Epistle to Hero, iii. 

195 — the Epistle to, from Hero, 

iii. 208 
Learchus, the death of, ii. 141 
Lectisternia, the, i. 398; ii. 515 
Lectus, iii. 114 
Legion, i. 93 
Leleges, ii. 333 
Lemures, i. 70 

Lemuria, the Festival of the, i. 196 
Leucadian rites, the, i. 204 ; hi. 144, 

154 
Leucothoe, i. 234— and Apollo, the 

story of, ii. 128 
Lenocinium, hi. 288 
Liba, i. 122 
Libamina, i. 122 
Libation, ii. 392 
Liber (Bacchus,) i. 109 
Libera, a title of Ariadne, i. 1 1 1 
Liberalia, the Festival of the, i. 122 
Liberty, the Temple of, 297 
Libra, iii. 493 
Library, the, on the Palatine Hill, i. 

297 
Lichas, his transformation, ii. 309 
Licia, i. 100 ; iii. 278 



INDEX. 



53; 



Macareus, the Epistle to, from Ca- 
nace, iii. 104 

Macer, i. 340 — an address to, iii. 333 

Msenades, i. 154 

Magic, iii. 56, 278 
I Magna Grsecia, i. 135 
|Maia, and Jupiter, i. 180 
(Majesty, the Goddess, i. 170 
JMamurius, the song of, i. 105 
(Man, is formed, ii. 8 



Lictors, i. 456 
Lighthouses, ii. 397 
Lightning, conductor of, i. 103 
Likenesses, on rings, i. 265 — in sil 

ver, i. 41 i — in wax, iii. 134, 487 
Limes, iii. 360 
Linea, iii. 342 

Linen- wearers, i. 371 ; ii. 43 
Lituus, the Augur's staff, i. 227 
Lituus, a clarion, ii. 9 
Livia Augusta, i. 34, 264 — endowsi Manes, the, i. 70 

the Temple of Concord, i. 41, 238|Manipulus, i. 92 

— the Consolation to, iii. 502 jManlius, Marcus, i. 218 
Locatio, i. 190 |Manni, iii. 331 

Loculi, iii. 329 ! Maple, ii. 346 

" Locuples," the meaning of, i. 189 (Marathon, the hull of, ii. 244 
Lotis, and Priapus, the story of, i. 27JMarcellus, iii. 505, 512 

— is changed into a tree, ii. 121 j March, why so called, i. 85 — the old 
Lotus, i. 322 ; iii. 153 Roman year hegan with, i. 94 

Love, a species of warfare, iii. 285 ;!Marcia, her marriage to Fabius Maxi- 

causes the refinement of mankind,] mus, i. 245 

iii. 424 iMarius, i. 446 



Lovemaking, certain days not pro- 
pitious for, iii. 394 
Lover's Leap, i. 20-1; iii. 144, 154 
Luceres, the Tribe of the, i. 93 
Lucina, the Goddess, i. 66, 399 ; ii. 

33 
Lucretia. and Tarquinius, the story of, 

i. 79 
Lucretius, his Poem alluded to, i. 283, 

288 
Lupercal. i. 63 — why so called, i. 64, 

65 
Lupercalia, the, i. 58 
Luperci, i. 47, 58 
Lustrum, i. 92, 96 
Lycaon, i. 221 — is changed into a 

wolf, ii. 16 
Lycaeum, i. 27 

Lycurgus. King of Thrace, i. 122 
Lyd'an buskin, iii. 337 
Lymphatics, iii. 33 
Lynceus, the Epistle to, from Hy- 

permnestra, iii. 135 
Lyncus, the transformation of, ii. 187 
Lvre, iii. 27 — Constellation of the, i. 
"41, 50 

Macareus, his story, ii. 489 



"Maritus," the term applied to trees, 
ii. 509 

Marriage, unfortunate in May, i. 199 
— auspicious times for, i. 221 

Mars, the month of March devoted 
to, i. 90 — his passion for Minerva, 
i. 120 — the conception of, by Juno, 
i. 189— the Festival of, i. 218— and 
Venus, the storv of, ii. 126 ; iii. 
427 

Ultor, i. 201— the Temple of, i. 

201 

Marsi, the, i. 216 

Marsus, i. 472 

Marsyas, is flaved by Apollo, i. 241 ; 
ii. 208 

Masinissa, i. 244 

Mater Matuta, i. 231 — the same as 
Ino, i. 232 — her Temple is erected 
by Servius Tullius, i. 232 

Matronalia, i. 96 

May, why so called, i. 176 

Medea, assists Jason, ii. 223 — restores 
jEson to youth, ii. 234 — contrives 
the death of Pelias, ii. 236 — slays 
Creusa and Creon, and her own 
children, ii. 241 — marries jEgeus, 
iii. 243 — attempts to poison The- 



536 



INDEX. 



seus, iii. 243 — her Epistle to Jason, 
iii. 111. 
Medusa, is slain by Perseus, ii. 147, 
154 — her blood produces serpents, 
ii. 147 — her head produces coral, ii. 
153 — turns men into stone, ii. 163 

Megalesian games, i. 141 — their ori- 
gin, i. 149 

Meleager, i. 191 — and Atalanta, the 
story of, ii. 283— the death of, ii. 
283 

Melicerta, i. 232— and Ino, the story 
of, ii. 141 

Memnon, the death of, i. 3S1 ; ii. 461 

Memnonides, the, ii. 461 

Menander, i. 286 

Mercury, i. 73— the birth of, i. 180 
— the worship of, i. 180 — the ori- 
gin of his name, i- 206 — the trades- 
man's prayer to, i. 207 — slays Ar- 
gus, ii. 42 — changes Battus into a 
touchstone, ii. 74 — and Herse, the 
story of, ii. 75 — changes Aglauros 
into a statue, ii. 79 — debauches 
Chione, ii. 394. 

Messala Corvinus, i. 37 

Meta, i. 336 ; ii. 371 

Metae, ii. 348 

Metellus, saves the Palladium, i. 230 

Metra, and Erisicthon, the story of, ii. 
294 

MrjTpayvprai, i. 349 

Midas, the story of, ii. 385 

Milanion, iii. 414 

Mildew, i. 173 

Milky Way, the, ii. 13 

Mimallonides, the. iii. 399 

Mimes, i. 497 

Mind, the, is Deified, i. 221 

Minerva, is beloved by Mars, i. 320 — 
and the pipe, the story of, i. 241 ; 
iii. 453 — changes Arachne into a 
spider, ii. 195 

Capta, i. 126 

Minerval, the, L 126 

Minotaur, the, ii. 269 

Minyas, the daughters of, are changed 
into bats, ii. 136 

Mirrors, ii. 134 

Mistress, address to a forsworn, iii. 



275, 347— address to his, iii. 369. 
371, 375 — a, how to be addressed, 
iii. 402 
Mitra, i. 508 
Modimperator, iii. 401 
Moneta, i. 40 
Moneychangers, iii. 500 
Mons Sacer, the Secession to,i. 41, 1 13 
Months, the names of the, i. 5 
Moon, the, subjected to enchant- 
ments, ii. 134 
Moretum, i. 150 

Morning, an address to the, iii. 293 
Morpheus, ii. 407 
Mourning, the period of, i. 2 — the 

colours of, ii. 295 
Mulciber, a name of Vulcan, i. 35 
Mummy, why so called, i. 301 
Mundus, i. 169 

Muses, the, i. 142 — are attacked by 
Pyreneus, ii. 167 — contend with 
the Pierides, ii. 168 
Music, the art of, recommended to 

the fair, iii. 446 
Muta, the Goddess, i. 72 
Mutina, the battle of, i. 161 
Myrmidons, the story of the, ii. 352 
Myron, i. 443 
Myrrha, and Cinyras, the story of, ii. 

359 
Myrtle, the, i. 13 — why beloved by 

Venus, i. 139 
Myrtoan Sea, the, i. 487 
Myscelos, the story of, ii. 517 — 
founds Crotona, ii. 519 

Naiads, the, i. 32 

Nape, an address to, iii. 290 

Narcissus, i. 187 — and Echo, the storv 

of, ii. 101 
Nassa, i. 499 
Naumachia, hi. 386 
Navalia, iii. 207 
Necklace, ii. 348 

Nemesis, the Goddess, i. 358 ; ii. 103 
Nemesis, the mistress of Tibullus, 

iii. 365 
Neoptolemus, ii. 456 
Neptune, and Apollo build the walls 

of Troy, ii. 389 



INDEX. 



537 



Neritos, i. 135 

Nero, Drusus Claudius, iii. 502 

Nessus, is slain by Hercules, ii. 305 

Nestor, his age, i. 112 — his narrative, 
ii. 422 

Night, the Goddess, i. 29 

Niobe, the punishment of, ii. 198 

Nireus, i. 467 

Nisus, is betrayed by Scylla, ii. 265 

Nixi, the, ii. 313 ; hi. 86 

Nomentum, i. 173 

Nones, the, i. 7 — the Capro tine, iii. 417 

Nudipedalia, the rites of the, ii. 231 

Numa, i. 162 — the abode of, i. 49 — 
adds two months to the year, i. 95 
— attends the discourses of Pytha- 
goras, ii. 536 

Numicius, i. 118 

Numidicus Q. Caacilius Metellus, i. 37 

Numitor, i. 89 

Nundina3, the, i. 6 

Nuptial torch, the, ii. 423 

Nvctimene, is changed into an owl, ii. 
"70 

Nymphs, the Terrestrial, ii. 14 

Nysa, i. 124 

Ocrisia, i, 237 

Octavius, takes the title of Augustus, 

i. 37. See " Augustus." 
Ocyrrhoe,is changed into a mare,ii. 73 
Odd numbers, i. 197 
(Enone, her Epistle to Paris, iii. 41 — 

the Epistle to, from Paris, iii. 256 
(Esypum, iii. 442, 475 
Oil, invented by Pallas, i. 132 
Old age, respect to, i. 179 
Olympiad, i. 450 
Omens, bad, iii. 291 
Ophiuchus, the Constellation, i. 242 
Ops, i. 275 

Ora, the Goddess, ii. 516 
Orestes, and Pylades, the story of, i. 

425 — the Epistle to, from Her- 

mione, iii. 74 
Orion, the Constellation, i. 199 — 

his birth, i. 200— his death, i. 200 

— youths spring up from the ashes 

of his daughters, ii. 465 



Orithyia, is carried off by Boreas, ii. 
220 

Ornatrices, hi. 290 

Orpheus, and Eurydice, the story of, 
ii. 341 — attracts wild beasts by his 
music, ii. 346 — his death, ii. 381 

Ortygia, i. 207 

Oscines, i. 269 

Ossilegium, iii. 101 

Ostia, the salt pans at, i. 148 

Othryades, the story of, i. 76 

Ova, in the Circus, the, ii. 371 

Ovid, mentions his daughter, i. 220 — 
addresses Augustus as a Divinity, i. 
248 — attributes his exile to "his 
genius, i. 249 — attempts to destroy 
the Metamorphoses, i. 252 — visits 
Athens, i. 255 — describes the night 
before his departure from Rome, L 
256 — describes the ship in whichhe 
sails, i. 270 — is one of the Cen- 
tumviri,i.277 — mentionshis Eques- 
trian rank, i. 293 — mentions his 
estate at Sulmo, i. 336 — gives an 
account of his life and family, i. 
338 — is compelled to write of Love, 
hi. 260, 302— denies his love for 
Cypassis, hi. 315 — loves two mis- 
tresses at the same time, hi. 319 — 
mentions his wife, iii. 375 — de- 
fends himself from censures cast 
on the Art of Love, iii. 476. See 
" Corinna" and " Mistress" 

Owl, the bird of Pallas, i. 50 

Psestum, ii. 547 

Pagi, i. 42 

Palatium, the, i. 175 

Palaemon, the same as Melicerta and 

Portunus, i. 233 
Palaeste, the Goddesses of, i. 144 
Palaestra, i. 206 ; iii. 165, 208 
Pales, the Goddess, i. 165 
Palici, the, i. 416 ; ii. 173 
Palilia, the Festival of the, i. 165 
Palla, iii. 282 
Palladium, the, i. 229 — is saved by 

Metellus, i. 230 
Pallium, iii. 230 



MS 



IKDEX. 



Pan, i. 58— pursues Syrinx, ii. 41 — i Pestilence, the, at /Egina described, ii. 

and Apollo, their musical contest,! 249 

ii. 387 [Petasus, ii. 39 

Pandion, ii. 213 I Phaeton, i. 108— causes the confla- 

Parcae, the, hi. 112 gration of the world, ii. 54 — is 

Parentalia, the, i. 71 ; iii. 293 | slain by Jupiter, ii. 59 — his sisters 

Paris, the Epistle to, from (Enone, | are changed into poplars, ii. 59 

iii. 41 — his Epistle to (Enone, iii. I Phalaris, i. 314 

256 — his Epistle to Helen, iii. 157 Phaon, the Epistle to, from Sappho, 

— the Epistle to, from Helen, iii. 178 iii. 143 
Paros, iii. 277 Phaselus, iii. 319 

Parrot, Elegy on the death of a,iii.312 Phidias, i. 443 



Pascua, or public pastures, i. 190 
Passion, the intensity of, in females, 

iii. 390 
Patches, on the face, iii. 441 
Patience, recommended, iii. 426 
Patroclus, and Achilles, i. 269 
Patulcius, a name of Janus, i. 12 
Pausarius, i. 147 
Peace, the Festival of, i. 44 



Philemon, and Baucis, the story of, ii. 

289 
Philippi, the battle of, i. 121 • 
Philippus, Marcius. repairs the Tem- 
ple of Hercules, i. 246 
j Philomela, and Tereus, the storv of, 

ii. 210 
! Philotis, iii. 417 
! Philtres, ii. 531 



Peacocks, receive their colours, ii. 67 | Phineus, is persecuted by the Harpies, 

Peculium, iii. 305 i. 216 

"Pecunia," meaning of the word, i. Phineus, attacks Perseus, ii. 158 — is 



189 

Pedo Albinovanus, i. 461 
Pegasus, the Constellation, i. 108 
TltXavot, i. 42 
Pelasgia, ii. 224 
Pelta, iii. 237 



changed into stone, ii. 164 
j Phcebe,and Ela'ira, the story of, i. 208 
j Phoedra, her Epistle to Hippolytus, 

iii. 29 
j Phoenix, the, ii. 532 
Phraates, i. 202 



Penelope, her Epistle to Ulysses, iii. 'Phrygian notes, the, i. 143 

1 — the Epistle to, from Ulysses, I Phryxus, and Helle, the storv of, i. 
iii. 244 128 

Pentathlon, iii. 176 iPhyaces, i. 461 

Pentheus, opposes the worship of Phyllis, her Epistle to Demophoon, 



Bacchus, ii. 108— his death, ii. 115 

Perdix, is transformed into a par- 
tridge, ii. 273 

Perfumes, iii. 149 

Periclymenus, his death, ii. 435 

Perilla, i. 307 

Perimele, ii. 287 

Perseus, slays Medusa, ii. 147 — 
changes Atlas into a mountain, ii. 
147 — rescues Andromeda, ii. 151 — 
is married to her, ii. 153 — is at- 
tacked by Phineus, ii. 158 — turns 
him into stone, ii. 164 — transforms 
Prcetus, ii. 165 



iii. 10 — the Epistle to, from De- 
mophoon, iii. 251 

Picus, is consulted by Numa, i. 101 — - 
is changed by Circe into a wood- 
pecker, ii. 497 

Pierides, the contest of the, with the 
Muses, ii. 168 

Pigmies, the, ii. 192 

Pilanus, i. 93 

Pile, the Funeral, iii. 362 

Pinarii, i. 36 

Pincerna, iii. 269 

Pipers, or Tibicines, the, are restricted 
in numbers, i. 239- when em- 



index. 



539 



ploved, i. 239 — a story of them, 

i. 2*39 
Pistor, Jupiter, i. 226 
Plane-trees, ii. 346 ; iii. 495 
Plaustrum, i. 240 



of Apollo, iii. 303 — of Porapey, iii- 
381, 449— columns of the. iii" 397 
— of Oetavia, iii. 381 — of Livia, 
iii. 381 
Porticos, at Rome, i. 389 ; iii. 381 



Plautius, protects the Tibicines, i. 240 Portraits, waxen, iii. 487 — See Like. 
Pleasing, rules for the art of, hi. 425 nesses 
Plectrum, ii. 70 Portunus, the Divinity, i. 233 

Pleiades, Constellation of the, i. 141, Poms, i. 305 

180 Postumus Tubertus, routs the iEqui, 

Plisthenes, iii. 489 \ i. 242 . 

Pluto, arid Proserpine, the story of, i. ! Postverta, the Goddess, i. 40 

154$172 Potitii, the, i. 36 

Pluto, Clymenus, i. 243 | Poultry-yards, i. 164 

Pocula, iii. 171 iPrseco, his duties, iii. 371 

Poetry, is recommended to the fair, I Prsepetes, i. 269 

iii. 447 | Presents, -what, to be made to a mis- 

Poets, their fame is immortal, iii. 298 tress, iii. 417 
Pollinctores, iii. 508 | Priapus, and Lotis. tbe story of, i. 

Pollio, Asinius founds the first public | 27 — and Vesta, the story of, i. 225 

Library at Rome, i. 297 I Primipilus, i. 453 ; iii. 360 

Pollution, by the dead, ii. 405 ; Princeps, i. 93 

Pollux, i. 208. See " Castor." I Princeps juvenum, iii. 387 

" Polus," meaning of the \vord,i. 223 1 Procas, is attacked by the Striges, i. 
Polydectes, his hatred of Perseus, ii. I 216 



165 

Polydorus, the death of, ii. 454 

Polymnestor, the death of, ii. 459 

Polyphemus, kills Acis, ii. 469 — de- 
vours the companions of Ulysses, 
ii. 489 

Polypus, ii. 135 

Polyxena, is sacrificed to the shade 
of Achilles, ii. 456 

Pomegranate, ii. 180 

Pomona, and Vertumnus, the story 
of, ii. 507 

Pompa, i. 152 



Procession, the, to the Circus, iii. 343 
Procris, and Cephalus. the story of, 

ii. 254 ; iii. 460 
Proculus, Julius, i. 68 
Procuress, an address to a, iii. 278 
Proems, is turned into stone, by Per- 

seus, ii. 165 
Professas, or prostitutes, the, i. 171 ; 

iii. 457 
Progne, and Tereus, the story of. i 

74 •, ii. 210 
Prometheus, forms man, ii. 8 
Propertius, i. 290 



Pompey, the Great, i. 38 — his fate, j Propcetides, the transformation of 



i. 446 

Pompey's Portico, iii. 381, 449 
Pons, the, (for voters), i. 205 
Ponticus, i. 340 
Pontifex, i. 46 
Pontus, i. 267 
Porrima, the Goddess, i. 40 
Porta Catularia, i. 173 
Porter, an address to a, iii. 271 



Portico,the, of the Danaides, i. 297 — ' Publicii, i. 190 



the, ii. 356 
Prosecta, or Prosiciac, ii. 421 
Proserpine, and Pluto, the story of, 

i. 153; ii. 172 
Protesilaiis, his death, ii. 416 — the 

Epistle to, from Laodamia, iii. 125 
Proteus, his transformations, i. 25 
j Psaltery, iii. 446 
Publician Road, the, i. 190 



540 



INDEX. 



Pulpitum, L 293 

Pulvinaria, i. 398; ii. 515 

Pumice, used for smoothing parch- 
ment, i. 248 

Pupil of the eye, double, iii. 279 

Puppis, iii. 102 

Purification, i. 42 — at the Palilia, i. 
166 — with eggs and sulphur, iii. 420 

Purity, i. 60 

Purple, i. 51 ; iii. 487 

Puteal, iii. 482 

Pygmalion, (of Tyre), i. 115 

Pygmalion, (of Cyprus), his statue 
is animated by Venus, ii. 357. 

Pyramus, and Thisbe, the story of, ii. 
121 

Pyreneus, attacks the Muses, ii. 167 
—the death of.ii. 167 

Pyrrha, and Deucalion, the story of, 
ii. 23 

Pyrrhus, i. 219 

Pythagoras, i. 95, 197, 300— ex- 
pounds his philosophy at Crotona, 
ii. 519, 535 

Pythian games, the, ii. 27 

Python, is killed by Apollo, ii. 27 

Quadriga, i. 326 

Quinces, iii. 460 

Quinctilii, the, i. 62 

Quinquatrus, or Quinquatria, the Fes- 
tival of the, i. v 125 — the Lesser i. 
238 

Quirinalia, i. 69 

Quirites, i. 67 

Quiver, iii. 202 

Racing Lists, iii. 386 

Ram, (or Aries) Constellation of the, 

the story of the, i. 128 ; ii. 109 
Raven, Constellation of the, i. 57 
Raven, the, is turned black, ii. 67 — 

reaping, ii. 289 
Reclining, at meals, iii. 266 
Redimiculum, i. 138 ; ii. 358 
Regia, i. 166 
Relegatus, i. 278 
Remora, i. 502 
Remus, i. 53, 62— the birth of, i. 87 



— the death of, i. 170 — the burial 
j of, i. 197 
i Reticulum, ii, 91 
I Review, of the Equites by Augustus, 

i. 277 
Rex Nemorensis, i. 100 

I Sacrificulus, i. 209 

! Sacrorum, i. 2 

j Rhamnes, the Tribe of, i. 93 
J Rhombus, iii. 278 

j Ring, with a portrait engraved there - 
| on, i. 265— address to a, iii. 328 
j Ring-dove, i. 29 
Rings, iii. 267 

I Riper years, in the fair, not to be de- 
spised, iii. 431-2 
Rival, Ovid complains that he is 

supplanted by a, iii. 359 
River, address to a, iii. 352 
Romans, and Sabines, the reconci- 
liation of the, i. 98 
Rome, the foundation of. i. 169 ; ii. 
514 — is attacked by the Sabines, i. 
20 ; ii. 514 
Romulus, divides the year, i. 4 — in- 
stitutes the Lupercalia, i. 62 — the 
exposure of, i. 63 — is Deified, i. 
68 ; ii. 514— the birth of, i. 87— 
his abode, i. 96 — mourns for Re- 
mus, i. 197 — founds Rome, ii. 514 
Roses, used at entertainments, i. 193 
Rostra, the, iii. 513 
Rowers, ii. 401. 
Rubigo, the Goddess, i. 173 
Rudis, i. 336 
Ruminal, i. 64 
Rutilius, Publius, i. 378 
Rutilius Lupus, is slain, i. 235 

Sabbath, the, iii. 382, 395, 471 
Sabine females, the, iii. 281 
Sabines, the, attack Rome, i. 20 ; ii. 

5 1 4 — are recon ciled to the Romans , 

i. 98— the rape of, iii. 383 
Sabinus, Aulus, i. 472 ; iii. 334— his 

Epistles, iii. 244. 
Sacra via, or Sacred street, i. 21)6 ; 

iii. 284 
Sacred vessels, i. 86 



I2TDEX. 



541 



Sailors, the Etrurian, are transformed j 
into fishes, ii. 1 13 

Sails, iii. 23 

Sal-Ammoniac, iii. 494 

Salii, the, i. 99, 105 

Salmacis, and Hermaphroditus, the| 
story of, ii. 132 

Salpa, i. 502 

Salt, i. 23 

Salus, the Goddess, i. 1 29 

Sanctis, the Deity, i. 220 

Sand, for wrestling, ii. 301 

Sapa,i. 167 

Sappho, i. 286 — her Epistle to 
Phaon, iii. 143 

Sarissa, ii. 431 

Sauromatae. the, i. 280, 311 

Scamnum, iii. 385 

Saturn, arrives in Italy, i. 18 — de- 
vours his offspring, i. 142 

Scazonic lines, iii. 476 

Schoolmasters, at Rome, i. 126 

Scipio, P. Cornelius, i. 37 

Scipio Nasica, establishes the wor- 
ship of Cybele at Rome, i. 149 

Scrinia, i. 251 

Scylla, betrays Nisus, ii. 265 

Scvlla, is transformed into a rock, ii. 
480 

Scython, changes his sex, ii. 131 

Sea, the. deemed not navigable, when, 
i. 138 

Sealing, the, of letters, i. 351 

Seasons, the, i. 11, 186 

Seats, in the Theatre, i. 151 — in the 
Circus, iii. 342 

Secret correspondence, hints for, iii. 
171, 183, 267, 457 

Secular games, the, i. 275 

Segmenta, iii. 440 

Semele, i. Ill— her death, ii. 98 

Sementive holidays, i. 42 

Semiramis, iii. 271 

Semo, Sancus, or Fidius, a Sabine ! 
Deity, i. 220 

Sera, iii. 272 

Serapis, the Deity, his form, iii. 325 j 

Serpents, ii. 85 

Servius Tullius, his statue concealed i 
by a 'toga,' i. 236 — is slain by J 



his daughter Tullia, i. 236 — his 
miraculous birth, i. 238 

Shades, of the dead, i. 70 

Shaving, i. 47 

She-Goat (Capella), Constellation of 
the, i. 181 

Ships, the, of iEneas are changed into 
sea Nymphs, ii. 504 

Shipwreck, ii. 403 

Sibyl, the, i. 139— is beloved by 
Apollo, ii. 484 

Siesta, the, iii. 269 

Signal, the, for starting at the race, 
iii. 345 

Silenus, i. 27 — stories of, i 123 ; ii. 
383 ; iii. 400 

Silver Age, the, ii. 10. 

Silvia, and Mars, the storv of, i. 
86 

Sinus, of the toga, iii. 287 

Siparium, ii. 87 

Sipylus, ii. 203 

Sirpea, i. 2-10 

Sistrum, i. 370 

Sisyphus, i. 141 

Siticines, iii. 312 

Sitting, at meals, i. 224 

Slaves, their punishments, iii, 89, 
274 — their diet, iii. 273 — some- 
times tradesmen, iii. 282 — their 
savings, iii. 305 

Sling, ii. 76, 515 

Smilax, becomes a flower, ii. 131 

Smintheus, i. 230 ; ii. 436 

Snake, Constellation of the, i. 57 

Soap, for the hair, iii. 439 

Socrates, i. 363 

Soothsayers, iii. 84 

Sorcery, censured, iii. 472 

Sospita, Juno, i. 49, 213 

Spina, in the Circus, ii. 348 

Spinning, iii. 88 

Spinning-wheel, the, used in incan- 
tations, iii. 278 

Spolia opima, i. 172 

Sponda, ii. 290 

" Spondeo," the meaning of the word, 
iii. 294 

Spring, its amusements at Rome, i. 
316 



542 



INDEX. 



Statues, on the sterns of ships, i. 260 
—at the bows, i. 260, 270 

Stellio, his transformation bv Ceres, 
ii. 175 

Stesichorus, iii. 435 

Stimula, the Goddess, i. 223 

Stimulants, iii. 423 

Stips, i. 15 

Stola,i. 138, 171 ; iii. 270 

Striges, i. 216 ; ii. 234 ; iii. 279 

Stripes, not inflicted on Roman citi- 
zens, iii. 276 

Strophium, iii. 444, 457 

Stylus, ii. 329 

Stymphalus, i. 58 

Sublician bridge, the, i. 204 

Suculae, the Hyades, so called, i. 184 

Sulmo, the birth-place of Ovid, i. 1 36 
— is described, iii. 329 

Sulphur, i. 102 

Summanus, the Divinity, i. 242 

Suppliant, iii. 268 

Supplication, ii. 293 

Swans, black, i. 430 

Swell-mob, the, of Rome, iii. 452 

Swift, Dean, whence he may have 
borrowed a notion, iii. 475 

Swine, why sacrificed, i. 24 

Sword-lily, iii. 493 

Syene, i. 381 

Svgambri, the, iii. 503 

Sylla,i. 220 

Symplegades, the, i. 271 ; iii. 119 

Syngraphus, or Syngrapha, iii. 395 

Syphax, conquers Masinissa, i. 144 

Syrians, the, do not eat fish, i. 67 

Syrinx, is. transformed into reeds, ii. 

. 41 

Syrtes, the, ii. 267 

Tables, iii. 184' 

Tablets, i. 415— address by the Poet 

to his, iii. 291 
Tacita, the rites of the Goddess, i. 72 
Tages, the Diviner, ii. 538 
Taeda, ii. 30; iii. 17., 276 
Tamarus, i. 160. 
Talaria, ii. 153 
Tali, iii. 414 



j Taprobane, i. 383 

I Tarpeia, her treachery and punish- 
ment, i. 20 

Tarquinius Superbus, the banish- 
ment of, i. 77— and his wife slay 
Servius Tullius, i. 236 

Tarquinius, and Lucretia, the story 
of, i. 79 

Tatius, i. 19, 52; ii. 514 

Telchines, the, ii. 239 

Telegonus, i. 135 

Telephus, is cured by Achilles, i. 251 

Temesa, the copper of, i. 197 

Tempest, her Temple erected, i. 219 

Terence, i. 285 

Terentus, i. 32 

Tereus, and Progne, the story of, ii. 
210 

Terminalia, the, i. 75 

Terminus, i. 48, 75 

Tethys, i. 55 

Tesserae, iii. 414 

Teuthrantus, i. 275 

Thais, iii. 456 

Thamyras, iii. 450 

Theatre, the, of Marcellus, iii. 381 

Theatres, the three, iii. 450 

Themis, the Goddess, i. 119 ; ii. 24 

Themistocles, i. 378 

Thensa, iii. 343 

Therapnse, i. 187 

Thermodon, ii. 308 

Theromedon, i. 375 

Theseus, and Ariadne, i. 1 09 — his ex- 
ploits, ii. 244 — the Epistle to, 
from Ariadne, iii. 94 

Thesmophoria, the, ii. 364 

Thieves, Mercury the patron of, i. 
181 

Third Deities, who they were, i. 276 

Thisbe and Pyramus, their story, ii. 
121 

Thracians, the, iii. 213 

Thrasius, iii. 403 

Thrasymenus, the battle of, i. 2 13 

Thyestes, i. 74 

Thyrsus, i. 406 ; ii. 109 ; iii. 338 

Tiber, the navigation of the, i. 147 

Tiberinus, the death of, i. 133 



mDEX. 



543 



Tiberius Caesar, i. 32-1 ; iii. 503 

Tibia, i. 141 ; iii. 121 

Tibicen, i. 164 

Tibicines, i. 239 

Tibullus, i. 289, 340— the Poet la- 
ments his death, iii. 362 

Tibur, i. 135 

Tiresias, his decision on the pleasure 
of the sexes, ii. 100 — is struck 
blind by Juno, ii. 100 

Titian tribe, the, i. 93 

Titulus, i. 467 

Tivoli, i. 35 

Toga libera, i. 124 

pretexta, i. 355, 458 

virilis, i. 339 ; iii. 486 — how 

worn bv fops, iii. 486 

Togatae, i" 171 

Toilet, rules for the, iii. 442 — dis- 
gusting description of a, iii. 475 

Tolenus, the battle of the, i. 235 

Tombs, iii. 56, 74 

Tomi, i. 271 — why so called, i. 311 
— its dangers, i. 323 — described, i. 
489 

Torches, ii. 30; iii. 17, 114, 274 

Tori, iii. 46 

Torquatus, Titus Manlius, i. 38 

Torquis, i. 428 

Touchstone, ii. 74 

Tourmaline, ii. 533 

Trabea, i. 3 

Tradesman, the, his prayer to Mer- 
cury, i, 207 

Tragedy, Ovid contemplates the com- 
position of, iii. 337 

" Tria verba," the, i. 6 

Trieterica, the, i. 27 ; ii. 116, 216 

Triones, the, ii. 365 

Tripod, i. 128 ; ii. 544 ; iii. 21 

Triptolemus, is sent by Ceres to in- 
troduce agriculture, i. 158 — trans- 
forms Lyncus, ii. 87 

Triumph, i. 395 ; ii. 33 — description 
of a, i. 325 

Triumphal procession, description of 
a, i. 395 

Trivia, (Diana), ii. 63 

Trosnus, i. -159 



Troy, is built by Neptune and Apollo, 

ii. 389 — its destruction, ii. 453 
Tuba, ii. 9; iii. 121, 312 
Tubilustrium, the Festival of the, i. 

127— is repeated, i. 208 
Tullia, murders her father Servius 

Tullius, i. 236 
Tunica, iii. 270 

Turnus, opposes iEneas, ii. 500 
Tusculum, i. 135 

Tuticanus.his poem mentioned, i. 465 
Twins (or Gemini), Constellation of 

the, i. 207 
Tychius, i. 126 
Tympana, ii. 108 
Typhosus, the defeat of the Giant, ii. 

170 

Ulysses, his wanderings, i. 262 ; ii. 
489, 495— contends with Ajax for 
the arms of Achilles, ii. 439 — 
the Epistle to, from Penelope, iii. 
1 — his Epistle to Penelope, iii. 
244— and Circe, the story of, iii. 
472 

Umbracula, iii. 415 

Unciae, iii. 493 

Undulatae, iii. 440 

Vaccinium, i. 247 

Vacuna, the Goddess, i. 224 

Vadimonium, iii. 292 

Vagina, ii. 1 24 

Vallum, ii. 276 

Valvae, ii. 126 

Vegrandia, i. 108 

Vejovis, Jupiter, i. 107 

Velabra, i. 228 

Velamenta, ii. 393 

Velarium, i. 151 ; ii. 87 

Venabulum. iii. 35 

Venulus, ii. 502 

Venus, is wounded by Diomedes, i. 

137 — and Mars, the story of, ii. 

126 ; iii. 428 — loves Adonis, ii. 

368 — causes a flower to spring 

from his blood, ii. 377 
Anadyomene, her statue, iii. 

442 



544 



INDEX. 



Venus Ervcina, her Temple at Rome, 

i. 171 ' 
Verticordia, i. 140 — her 

Temple, L 141 
Yertumnus, and Pomona, the story 

of, ii. 507 
Vesca, i. 108 
Vesta, i. 33 — images of, i. 87 — 

the cleansing of her shrine, i. 221 

— the Temple of, the reasons for 

its shape, i. 222 — why so called, i. 

224 — and Priapus, the story of, i. 

225 
Vestalia, the Festival of the, i. 222 
Vestalis, i. 452 
Vestals, the ilisg- i of certain, i. 

140 
Vestis ll'iera, i. I** 
Via Sacra, i. 296 ; iii. 284 
Victima, i. 23 
Vigfflae, iii. 272, 285 
Vinalia, the, i. 171 
Vindex, iii. 510 
Vindicta, i. 240 
Vine, the Centurion's badge of office, 

iii. 454 
Vintager, Constellation of the, i. 106 
Virhius, a name of Hippolytus, i. 

243 ; ii. 538 
Virgil, his censurers mentioned, iii. 

476 
Virgin's Aqueduct, the, i. 389 
Vision, a, and its explanation, iii. 350 
Vitta, ii. 29 
Volesus, i. 427 
Votive horns, ii. 425 



Vulcan, discovers the intrigue of Mars 
and Venus, ii. 126 ; iii. 428 

Walking, i. 179— rules for,' iii. 445 

Walnut-tree, address to a, iii. 495 

Walnuts, games played with. iii. 498 

War, how proclaimed by the Romans, 
i. 219 

Washings, of the statues of the Di- 
vinities, i. ] 38 

Water, used in transformations, ii. 92 

Wax, laid on ships, i. 145 ; ii. 403 

Weaving, ii. 405 ; iii. 2 

Wheels, iii. 203 

White-thorn, i. 217 

Wife of Ovid, the, a native of Fali.sci, 
iii. 375 

Windows, i. 427 ; ii. 512 

Winds, the, ii. 6 

Wine, iii. 5 

Winter Equinox, the, i. 30 

Solstice, the, i. 13 

Wolf, a, changed into marble, ii. 39. 

Woodcocks, i. 218 

Woodpecker, i. 87; ii. 497 

Woof, the, ii. 431 

Writing, materials for, iii. 105 

Writing, rules for, iii. 453 

Year, beginning of the. i. 14 

Zancle, i. 155 

Zedoary, i. 24 

Zethes, and Calais, the birth of. ii. 22 1 

Zoilus, censures Homer, iii. 476 

Zone, ii. 178 

Zones, the, ii. 5 



ERRATA. 
Page 102,'liue 23, for - Cyprus,' read ' cypress.' 

203, 43, for ' milestone,' read ' millstone.' 

268, 16, for * Those art my own,' read ' Those are my own.' 



L6A P ?9 



THE END. 



J. BILLING, PRINTER, WOKING, SURRKY. 



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